Stories
Egypt Arrests Entire Editorial Team of Independent Media Outlet Matsadaash
N
News18•02-10-2026, 10:00
Egypt Arrests Entire Editorial Team of Independent Media Outlet Matsadaash
- •Egyptian authorities arrested the entire editorial team of Matsadaash, an independent media outlet, accusing them of belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and producing fabricated news.
- •The arrests of the six journalists sparked international outcry, with rights groups condemning it as an "alarming escalation on independent media and freedom of expression."
- •Matsadaash, founded eight years ago as a fact-checking platform, expanded into investigative reporting and has a blocked website in Egypt but over a million Facebook followers.
- •The Egyptian Interior Ministry described Matsadaash as an unlicensed page managed from abroad by a "fugitive Brotherhood member" and claimed the detained journalists were part of a Brotherhood "media committee."
- •The whereabouts of the six arrested journalists remain unknown, and they have not been allowed to contact their families or legal teams, marking the first time an entire newsroom has been arrested in Egypt.
Key Questions Answered
Egyptian authorities arrested the six journalists of Matsadaash on allegations of belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and producing fabricated news for foreign funding. Co-founder Abdelrahman Mansour firmly stated that these claims are false.
Matsadaash was founded in 2018 as an online fact-checking platform before expanding into investigative reporting in Egypt and other Arab countries.
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights reports that there are currently 26 journalists behind bars in Egypt.
