In a sweeping crackdown on independent media that press freedom advocates have labeled an unprecedented escalation against free expression in Egypt, security forces have detained every member of the full six-person editorial team of Matsada2sh, one of the country’s last remaining independent fact-checking outlets. The raids, carried out at the journalists’ private homes across September 28 and 29, targeted all staff of the outlet, whose name translates to “Don’t Believe” in English, founded in 2018 to debunk misleading and false information spread by both government and opposition sources. The detained journalists are identified as Mohamed Ashraf Abu Emeira, Abdallah Qadry, Islam Barakat, Omar Helal, Mohamed Mahmoud, and Mohamed Adel.
Following the arrests, the total number of journalists currently held in Egyptian detention has risen to 24. Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a leading international press freedom watchdog, emphasized that this incident marks a historic first for Egypt: the detention of an entire functioning newsroom. The organization also condemned Egyptian authorities for refusing to disclose the whereabouts of the six detained journalists, a practice that RSF notes violates Egypt’s own constitution despite being common in the country. It is typical for detained Egyptian journalists to be held incommunicado, or forcibly disappeared, for days before they are officially charged and presented to a judicial body, RSF added.
Multiple human rights organizations have confirmed that during the early morning raids, security personnel seized not only the mobile phones and laptop computers belonging to the six journalists, but also the personal electronic devices of their family members who live at the raided properties. Importantly, officers did not present any formal arrest warrants to the journalists or their families at the time of the raids, and would not answer questions about where the detainees were being transported.
Days later, Egypt’s interior ministry released an official statement confirming the detentions, and leveled a series of accusations against the outlet and its team. The ministry claimed Matsada2sh operates as an unlicensed media platform managed from outside of Egypt’s borders, intentionally spreads disinformation, and maintains unlawful ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest historical opposition movement, has been banned as a terrorist organization under the administration of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi since 2014. This is not the first time the outlet has faced government action: one of its editors was arrested on similar charges in 2023, though he was released just two days after being detained.
The detentions have drawn widespread condemnation from the global human rights and independent journalism community. A joint statement signed by more than 80 rights organizations and independent media outlets underscored that independent journalism is a cornerstone of any free society, and argued that the Egyptian government’s ongoing suppression of free expression directly contradicts its stated public commitments to open dialogue, governmental transparency, anti-corruption efforts, and regional leadership. The statement called the crackdown on Matsada2sh an alarming escalation against independent media that must not be tolerated.
Abdelrahman Mansour, a co-founder of Matsada2sh who currently resides outside of Egypt, told the Associated Press this week that the detained journalists’ families still have no information about their loved ones’ location or condition. “Everyone on this team knew the risks when they went to work every day, but it’s unacceptable for the government to make false accusations and forcibly disappear journalists just because they’re afraid of a free press,” Mansour told AP. “Their families are worried, we’re worried, we just want them released unharmed.”