Judge bans critical Egyptian news site, editor fined and detained

In Egypt, the editor-in-chief of the independent news site Mada Masr has been fined nearly €50,000 for operating without a permit. Following the ruling, she was arrested, and the website is ordered to shut down with its equipment confiscated. Amnesty International and CPJ condemned this as an unprecedented attack on press freedom. Mada Masr, which started in 2013, has faced state censorship since 2017, with repeated permit requests ignored. The site has been a critical voice in Egyptian journalism, despite ongoing harassment of its staff. Egypt ranks 169th out of 180 in press freedom according to Reporters Without Borders.