Egypt's Public Prosecution has ordered six journalists from the fact-checking platform Matsada2sh to be held in pretrial detention while investigations continue. The journalists were detained on September 28 and 29. According to the Interior Ministry, the platform is accused of having links to the Muslim Brotherhood, which Matsada2sh denies. The prosecution's statement said the case began with investigations by the National Security Sector, which alleged that Brotherhood leaders abroad had instructed members to set up social media pages to spread rumors and false news.
The prosecution's investigations concluded that Matsada2sh was one of the group's media platforms, run by members abroad and staffed by people inside Egypt. One of the journalists is a member of the Journalists Syndicate. The prosecution issued arrest and search warrants that led to the six arrests. The journalists were questioned with their lawyers present, and a Syndicate representative attended for the defendant who is a Syndicate member. According to the statement, one defendant admitted to joining the Brotherhood's media committee and working on Matsada2sh.
The defendant described meetings with a group member abroad over messaging apps and being tasked with publishing rumors and false news about state institutions and officials. The aim, he said, was to bring those institutions down. He also described highlighting only failings in state institutions and escalating sectoral grievances by inventing or exaggerating incidents. The prosecution said the defendant admitted receiving monthly payments in foreign currency, sent by bank transfer from a company owned by the group member abroad.
The prosecution's statement noted that the other defendants denied joining the Brotherhood, except one who said he had been a member in the past and left before working at Matsada2sh. All of them confirmed working for the page, which is run from outside Egypt, and that all but one said they received regular payments in US dollars transferred from abroad. Another defendant described the page as aiming to magnify domestic problems and build public anger that would lead to protests aimed at bringing down state institutions.
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), whose lawyers represent the six journalists, responded to the prosecution's statement with a ten-point statement. EIPR said the prosecution's statement carries no legal evidentiary value and summarizes a case that has not been put before any court. EIPR pointed out that the six did not appear before prosecutors until five days after their arrest, a period in which their families and lawyers filed 18 complaints.
EIPR argued that the detaining authorities did not tell the six why they were being held or let them contact family or a lawyer, as required by law. On the substance, EIPR said the payments described in the statement were salaries, and that the online groups and emails cited by the prosecution were used to coordinate daily editorial work. EIPR added that the statement did not identify a single report published by Matsada2sh as false, and that none of the journalists was confronted with one during nearly 30 hours of questioning each.
The Journalists Syndicate's board decided unanimously to file a complaint with the Prosecutor General over the allegations of mistreatment. The Interior Ministry denied the allegations, saying the claims were baseless and an attempt by the defendants to evade the charges. The case has raised concerns about press freedom and the treatment of journalists in Egypt.
Key points
- The Egyptian Public Prosecution has ordered six Matsada2sh journalists to be held in pretrial detention.
- The journalists are accused of having links to the Muslim Brotherhood and spreading false news.
- The case has raised concerns about press freedom and the treatment of journalists in Egypt.
