The Media Line: Egypt Arrests Entire Newsroom Over Alleged Muslim Brotherhood Ties  

Egypt Arrests Entire Newsroom Over Alleged Muslim Brotherhood Ties  

By The Media Line Staff  

Egyptian authorities arrested six journalists from independent investigative media outlet Matsaddash over alleged links to the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt has designated a terrorist organization.  

The arrests encompassed the entire newsroom of Matsaddash, Arabic for “Don’t Believe,” according to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, which is providing legal representation to the journalists. The digital platform has operated since 2018.  

Egypt’s Interior Ministry accused Matsaddash in a statement of being run from outside the country as “part of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood’s media apparatus” with the help of Brotherhood “elements” inside Egypt.  

Matsaddash rejected the allegation that it was affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. The outlet cited reports it had published correcting what it described as misinformation disseminated by Brotherhood-affiliated media organizations.  

Co-founder Abdelrahman Mansour denied the allegations and added that two Matsaddash editors were arrested in 2023 but later released without charge after State Security investigators determined that they had no affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood, NBC reported.  

Egypt considers the Muslim Brotherhood a serious national security threat. The government banned the organization as a terrorist group in 2013, the same year the army overthrew President Mohamed Mursi, a Brotherhood member who had been democratically elected. Egyptian authorities subsequently imposed a strict crackdown on the group’s members and activities.  

The arrests prompted calls from international and regional organizations to release the journalists. More than 80 rights groups, civil society organizations and independent media outlets condemned what they described as an escalating crackdown on independent media and urged Egyptian authorities to free the Matsaddash journalists.  

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 19 journalists are currently detained in Egypt.