The head of Egypt’s Journalists Syndicate issued a statement defending the organization’s advocacy for six journalists detained last month who work for the investigative outlet Matsadaash. The syndicate faced criticism from pro-government commentators after filing a complaint with prosecutors alleging the detained journalists had been subjected to torture, which Egyptian authorities denied.
The six journalists—Mohamed Adel, Mohamed Ashraf Abu Emeira, Islam Barakat, Omar Helal, Mohamed Mahmoud, and Abdallah Qadry—were arrested on September 28 and 29. Prosecutors have accused them of working for a media organization allegedly connected to the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt’s government has designated as a terrorist group following a 2013 coup. The journalists have been ordered held in pretrial detention for 15 days pending investigation before the Supreme State Security Prosecution.
The syndicate’s leader stated that defending any journalist’s freedom protects all journalists and that individuals must be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Human rights lawyers representing the detainees reported they were initially held for five days without access to family or legal counsel. The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights said most of the six claimed they were tortured, including through beatings and electric shocks, and that some were forced to record confessions. Egypt’s Interior Ministry rejected torture allegations.
Matsadaash, founded in 2018 as a fact-checking platform that has expanded into investigative journalism, operates with its website blocked domestically but maintains over 1.3 million Facebook followers. The outlet’s co-founder denied any affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood. The platform previously faced pressure from authorities in 2023 when another journalist was arrested following an investigation into an alleged smuggling scandal.
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