Egypt: Regime of General Sisi arrests Mada Masr Editor

Posted On 18 May 2020

Number of times this article was read : 192
1163 issue: week ending 21 May 2020

Egyptian security services on Sunday detained the editor-in-chief of prominent independent news outlet Mada Masr, its lawyer said, the latest in a crackdown against journalists.  Lina Attallah was arrested outside Cairo’s Tora prison as she was interviewing rights activist Laila Soueif, mother of jailed activist Alaa Abdel Fattah who recently began a hunger strike. “The prison security guards asked Attallah to show her identification card and later called her in for an investigation that lasted three hours,” lawyer Hassan al-Azhari told AFP. He said she was later taken a police station and was expected to appear before the prosecution Monday morning, adding the reason for her arrest and charges remained unclear.

Later on Sunday, Mada Masr tweeted that the prosecution ordered Attallah’s release on bail of 2,000 Egyptian pounds ($127). Atallah was sent back to Maadi police station to finalise her release procedures, it said. Mada Masr is an online outlet that investigates corruption and security issues in both Arabic and English. Its website has been blocked in Egypt in recent years along with hundreds of others including many critical of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government. VPNs and other mirror sites are often used to bypass the block.

In November, security forces raided Mada Masr’s offices in Cairo and questioned journalists there. Attallah and others were briefly detained. The New York-based organisation said Thursday that Egyptian authorities arrested journalist Haitham Mahgoub who works for a local privately-owned newspaper. Citing his lawyer, it said Mahgoub faced charges of spreading false news and joining and funding a terrorist group.

In March, British newspaper The Guardian said its reporter in Egypt was forced to leave after her credentials were revoked over a report on coronavirus infections in the country. Egypt has increasingly targeted journalists in an ongoing crackdown against dissidents since the 2013 military ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. The clampdown has swept up thousands of the late Morsi’s Islamist supporters as well as secular activists, lawyers and academics. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says at least 29 journalists are being held in jail in Egypt, which ranks 166th out of 180 countries in its 2020 world press freedom index.

AFP

Wiki Profile

Lina Attalah

Lina Attalah (Arabic: لينا عطاالله) is an Egyptian media figure and journalist. Attalah is co-founder and chief editor of Mada Masr, an independent online Egyptian newspaper and was previously managing editor of the Egypt Independent prior to its print edition closure in 2013. She is active in the fight against the restriction of honest journalism. Time recognized her as a "New Generation Leader", calling her the "Muckraker of the Arab World" in 2018,[1] and including her in Time's 100 Most Influential People of 2020.[2]

in 2020 she was awarded the Knight International Journalism Award from the International Center for Journalists.[3]

Education

Attalah is an alumna of the United World College of the Adriatic in Duino, Italy.[4] She then studied journalism at the American University in Cairo.[5]

Journalism

Attalah's journalism has covered notable events in the Egyptian world, including the 2011 Egyptian revolution. She has published articles in Al-Masry Al-Youm, Cairo Times, The Daily Star[6] and the Christian Science Monitor and for the Thomson Reuters news agency.[5] She worked as a radio producer and campaign coordinator for BBC World Service Trust in 2005.[5]

Attalah was managing editor of the Egypt Independent prior to the closure of its print edition in 2013.[1][5] She is co-founder and the first chief editor of Mada Masr, an independent online Egyptian newspaper.[1]

Repression

In 2011, Attalah was among journalists who were attacked by security forces while covering a demonstration in Cairo.[7]

In November 2019, Attalah was briefly detained by Egyptian security services after Mada Masr, of which she is chief editor, published an article[8] about plans for president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's son Mahmoud el-Sisi to be transferred from the General Intelligence Directorate (GIS), one of the three Egyptian intelligence services,[9] to the Military Intelligence agency and assigned to a diplomatic position in Moscow in 2020 in response to Mahmoud's media visibility having a negative impact on president el-Sisi's image.[10] Mada Masr member Shady Zalat was detained for a day and a half, laptops and telephones from the Mada Masr office were confiscated, and Mada Masr staff, free lancers and guests were held incommunicado in the office for several hours by security forces.[11][10]

On 18 May 2020, in what was described as a "growing crackdown on freedom of expression linked to Covid-19," Attalah was arrested outside Tora prison in Cairo while interviewing the sister of detained journalist Alaa Abd El-Fattah.[12][13] Attalah was released on bail hours after her arrest.[14]

Public speaker

Attalah is a frequent public speaker and has been invited to address UNESCO's World Press Freedom Day, Storyful in Australia, the Arab Media Forum, and a host of other events.

Online media

Attalah is active in online social media. She had more than 50 thousand followers on Twitter in 2022.[15]

Recognition

Attalah was awarded the 2020 Knight International Journalism Award from the International Center for Journalists.[16] Attalah was one of Time's 100 most influential people of 2020.[2]

Attallah was awarded Ordre des Arts et des Lettres with a Knight degree by the French embassy in Cairo in 2022[17]

Personal life

Attalah is a Christian.[18]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Malsin, Jared (12 October 2017). "Muckraker of the Arab World". Time. Archived from the original on 29 November 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Lina Attalah: The 100 Most Influential People of 2020". Time. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  3. ^ "Fareed Zakaria and Two International Digital News Pioneers to Receive Prestigious Journalism Awards". www.prnewswire.com. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  4. ^ "Our UWC Adriatic alumna Lina Attalah". Instagram. Archived from the original on 26 December 2021. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d "Lina Attalah – Managing Editor". Egypt Independent. 4 September 2012. Archived from the original on 4 September 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  6. ^ Attalah, Lina (23 April 2012). "Cairo must engage more perceptively with the Sinai region". The Daily Star (Lebanon). Archived from the original on 30 December 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  7. ^ "Journalists beaten, websites blocked amid protests in Egypt - Committee to Protect Journalists". cpj.org. 26 January 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  8. ^ "President's eldest son, Mahmoud al-Sisi, sidelined from powerful intelligence position to diplomatic mission in Russia". Mada Masr. 20 November 2019. Archived from the original on 28 November 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  9. ^ "Egypt activist Wael Ghonim's brother ordered to remain in custody". Al Jazeera English. 22 September 2019. Archived from the original on 19 October 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  10. ^ a b Attalah, Lina (28 November 2019). "A few things you might like to know about us". Mada Masr. Archived from the original on 28 November 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  11. ^ "Plainclothes security raid Mada Masr office for several hours, detain 3 including Chief Editor Lina Attalah". Mada Masr. 24 November 2019. Archived from the original on 28 November 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  12. ^ Michaelson, Ruth (17 May 2020). "Egyptian editor briefly detained in Covid-19 reporting crackdown". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  13. ^ "Editor of one of Egypt's last independent newspapers briefly arrested | Reporters without borders". RSF. 19 May 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  14. ^ "Egypt: Mada Masr editor Lina Attalah released on bail". Al Jazeera. 18 May 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  15. ^ "Lina Attalah #savesheikhjarrah". Twitter. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  16. ^ "Fareed Zakaria and Two International Digital News Pioneers to Receive Prestigious Journalism Awards". International Center for Journalists. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  17. ^ "وسام الآداب والفنون الفرنسي لـ "الفارسة" لينا عطا الله". Retrieved 11 May 2022 – via YouTube.
  18. ^ Chang, Leslie T (27 January 2015). "The news website that's keeping press freedom alive in Egypt". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 November 2021.

Other sources

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lina_Attalah
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