Egypt arrests six journalists from fact-checking outlet Matsaddash

Egyptian police arrested all six journalists working in the newsroom of fact-checking outlet Matsaddash during raids on their homes in Egypt on September 28 and 29, according to reports published on October 1 and 2. The authorities accused them of spreading false information and working with the banned Muslim Brotherhood.¹²³

Home raids and confiscated devices

Plainclothes security personnel began searching the journalists’ homes on Monday evening and seized electronic devices, according to reports of the arrests. Rights groups cited by Middle East Eye said officers took phones and laptops belonging to the journalists and members of their families, and did not show arrest warrants.¹²³

Those arrested were named as Mohamed Adel, Mohamed Mahmoud, Omar Helal, Islam Barakat, Abdallah Qadry and Mohamed Ashraf Abu Emeira. Their arrests accounted for the outlet’s full newsroom.¹²³

Government allegations and outlet’s response

Egypt’s interior ministry said Matsaddash was an unlicensed platform directed from outside the country. It described the outlet as “part of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood’s media apparatus” and said Brotherhood-linked individuals inside Egypt had assisted it. The ministry also accused the six journalists of disseminating false information.¹²³

Matsaddash rejected the alleged Brotherhood connection. The outlet said its previous work included correcting inaccurate reports circulated by media organisations affiliated with the group. According to two outlets, Egypt’s State Information Service, the body responsible for fielding foreign-media questions on behalf of government agencies, did not immediately answer a request for comment.¹²

Calls for information and release

Reporters Without Borders said the authorities had not disclosed where the journalists were being held and described the detention of a whole newsroom as unprecedented in Egypt. Abdelrahman Mansour, Matsaddash’s founder, is based outside Egypt and said the journalists’ families did not know where they were being held and wanted them released unharmed.³

More than 80 rights organisations and independent media outlets called for the journalists’ immediate release. They characterised the arrests as an escalation affecting independent media and freedom of expression.³

Press restrictions and conflicting totals

Reports gave different totals for journalists detained in Egypt. The Straits Times and The Jerusalem Post cited the Committee to Protect Journalists as saying 19 journalists were in detention, while Middle East Eye reported a total of 24 after the Matsaddash arrests.¹²³

Egyptian journalists and activists have frequently been detained under accusations of spreading false news or rumours, while many independent outlets say restrictive conditions impede their work. In 2023, an editor at Matsaddash was detained over similar allegations and released two days later, according to Middle East Eye.¹²³

Political background

Matsaddash has operated as a fact-checking and investigative digital outlet since 2018. Egypt designated the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation in 2013, the same year the army removed President Mohamed Mursi, a democratically elected Brotherhood member, from power.¹²³