Key facts
- Six journalists from the fact-checking platform Matsda2sh have been charged with terrorism offenses in Egypt.
- Charges include belonging to a terrorist group, funding terrorism, and publishing fake news.
- Five journalists have been remanded in custody for 15 days.
- Matsda2sh denies any affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood.
- The Egyptian interior ministry claims the platform seeks to destabilize the country through disinformation.
- Detained journalists allege torture, including beatings and electric shocks, which the interior ministry denies.
Prosecutors in Egypt have charged six journalists from the independent fact-checking platform Matsda2sh with terrorism-related offenses, according to their lawyer Nabeh al-Ganadi. The charges include belonging to a terrorist group, funding terrorism, publishing "fake news," and using social media to incite terrorism.
Al-Ganadi stated on Monday that five of the journalists have been remanded in custody for 15 days, while the sixth is still undergoing interrogation. The arrests, which occurred on September 28 and 29, were condemned by international human rights and press freedom organizations.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) described the detention of Matsda2sh's entire newsroom as a "grave escalation in Egypt's campaign against independent journalism," noting that Egypt remains one of the world's leading jailers of journalists.
The Egyptian interior ministry confirmed the arrests, accusing Matsda2sh of seeking to destabilize the country through disinformation and stating the platform was unlicensed and operated from abroad. The ministry identified the founder, Abdel Rahman Mansour, as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, a claim Mansour denies.
Lawyers from the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), who are defending the journalists, reported that most of the detained individuals testified to being subjected to torture, including beatings, forced stripping, electric shocks, and threats, at National Security Agency facilities. The interior ministry has denied these allegations, calling them "unfounded."