World

Egyptian Journalists Syndicate Stands Firm Amid Detention of Six Matsadaash Reporters

By Al Jazeera Staff

Six journalists from the independent platform Matsadaash say they were tortured while in detention, a claim Egypt denies. The head of Egypt’s Journalists Syndicate, Khaled Elbalshy, said the organisation will continue to fight for press freedom after it was criticised for defending the six reporters, who were detained last month and charged with joining a “terrorist” group.

Elbalshy stated, "What happens to one colleague affects us all, and may happen to others tomorrow. An infringement of one journalist’s freedom is an infringement of everyone’s freedom and a weakening of the safeguards protecting that freedom." He added that the syndicate had filed a complaint with Egypt’s public prosecutor over the alleged torture.

The six journalists—Mohamed Adel, Mohamed Ashraf Abu Emeira, Islam Barakat, Omar Helal, Mohamed Mahmoud and Abdallah Qadry—were arrested on September 28 and 29. They have appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution, which handles national security cases, and have been ordered to remain in pretrial detention for 15 days while investigations continue.

Egyptian prosecutors accuse the journalists of working for a media organisation linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, a group the state has designated as a terrorist organisation since the 2013 coup that ousted democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi, a Brotherhood member. The Brotherhood denies the terrorist label, and human rights groups have criticised the government’s crackdown on freedoms.

Matsadaash co‑founder Abdelrahman Mansour has denied any ties between the platform and the Brotherhood. Elbalshy reiterated that an accused person is innocent until proven guilty.

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), whose lawyers represent the six journalists, said the reporters were initially held for five days without contact with families or lawyers. After complaints, they were questioned in the presence of their lawyers and a syndicate representative. The EIPR claims the journalists were held under the 2015 Counterterrorism Law, which allows pre‑prosecution custody when a terrorist risk is alleged.

The rights group noted that the prosecution only alleges the journalists published rumours or "false" reports, and that the public prosecution should have identified an imminent terrorist threat to justify denying the journalists the right to appear before a judicial authority within 24 hours of arrest.

The EIPR also reports that most of the six journalists say they were beaten and subjected to electric shocks, and that several were forced to record fabricated confessions. The Interior Ministry has rejected the torture allegations.

Matsadaash, founded in 2018 as a fact‑checking platform, has expanded into investigative journalism. Its website is blocked in Egypt, but it has more than 1.3 million followers on Facebook. The outlet has faced pressure from authorities before, including in 2023 when journalist Karim Asaad was arrested after an investigation into a suspected smuggling scandal involving a plane that flew from Cairo to Zambia. He was later released.