Court orders Egyptian website closed in case seen as test for independent media

An Egyptian court convicted the editor-in-chief of leading independent news website Mada Masr of running it without a licence on Tuesday, ordered the

site closed and held her in custody for five hours, her lawyers and the outlet said.



Lina Attalah of the online newspaper Mada Masr, which has won numerous international awards for its reporting, was fined 3 million Egyptian pounds ($53,400), her lawyers told Reuters. She was released after Mada Masr paid the fine, the newspaper said.



The ruling targets the most internationally prominent independent outlet in a media landscape mostly dominated by the state, and it comes a month after authorities arrested the entire newsroom of the fact-checking outlet Matsaddash. Rights groups have criticized the case against Attalah. Mada Masr,

which was founded in 2013, regularly publishes stories on politically sensitive topics.