CAIRO: Prominent Egyptian journalist Lina Attalah, head of independent media outlet Mada Masr, is set to appear in a criminal court on Wednesday, facing possible prison time in a trial that has drawn international outcry.
Attalah is being retried after being handed a one-year prison sentence in absentia in 2024, without her knowledge, for operating a news website without a licence and “publishing false news” — a charge commonly levelled against journalists and dissidents in Egypt.
The United Nations on Tuesday criticised what it called Egypt’s “widening assaults on press freedom”, including the “targeting, prosecution and harassment of independent journalists”.
Attalah was only informed of the in absentia sentence last month, upon her release from detention following a rushed misdemeanour trial in a separate case involving similar charges, in which she was fined three million Egyptian pounds (around $56,000).
