Egypt’s Journalists Syndicate says it will keep backing press freedom despite criticism over its support for six journalists detained last month. The reporters face charges of joining a ‘terrorist’ group, a case that has drawn sharp reactions at home.
Syndicate head Khaled Elbalshy made the stance clear in a statement on Sunday. He said that what happens to one member of the profession affects all of them and could soon reach others. Weakening one journalist’s freedom, he argued, erodes the safeguards that protect everyone’s freedom.
Syndicate lodges torture complaint with the prosecutor
The syndicate’s remarks followed a complaint it filed with Egypt’s public prosecutor. That complaint alleges the detained reporters, staff at the investigative site Matsadaash, suffered torture while in custody. Egyptian authorities have rejected those accusations, and pro-government commentators have faulted the syndicate for standing by the journalists.
Elbalshy also stressed that accused people, especially vulnerable ones, must be treated as innocent unless their guilt is proven.
Charges and pretrial detention of six reporters
The six men, Mohamed Adel, Mohamed Ashraf Abu Emeira, Islam Barakat, Omar Helal, Mohamed Mahmoud and Abdallah Qadry, were arrested on September 28 and 29. They have since appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution, which handles national security cases, and have been ordered held for 15 days while investigations continue.
Prosecutors allege the journalists worked for a media organisation tied to the Muslim Brotherhood. Egyptian authorities have cracked down on the group for years, dating back to the 2013 coup against democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi, himself a member. Egypt has officially designated the group a terrorist organisation, a label the group strongly denies, while human rights groups accuse authorities of repressing freedoms.
Matsadaash co-founder Abdelrahman Mansour has also rejected any links between the platform and the Brotherhood.
Rights group questions the legal basis for detention
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, which is representing the six journalists, said they were kept for five days with no access to families or lawyers. After complaints, they were brought before prosecutors and questioned with their lawyers and a Journalists Syndicate representative present.
The EIPR said the detention relies on the 2015 Counterterrorism Law, which permits custody before a prosecutor appearance when there is a risk of a terrorist crime. The group noted, however, that the prosecution only accuses the reporters of spreading rumours or ‘false’ reports. In a statement on October 7, it argued that prosecutors should have identified an imminent terrorist threat to justify denying the journalists a judicial hearing within 24 hours of arrest.
The EIPR also said most of the six reported being tortured after their arrests, including beatings and electric shocks, and that several were forced to record fabricated confessions. Egypt’s Interior Ministry has rejected these allegations.
Matsadaash’s growth and earlier run-ins with authorities
Matsadaash was founded in 2018 as a fact-checking platform before expanding into investigative journalism. Its website is blocked in Egypt, yet it has more than 1.3 million followers on Facebook.
The outlet has faced pressure before. In 2023, journalist Karim Asaad was arrested after Matsadaash published an investigation into a suspected smuggling scandal involving a plane that flew from Cairo to Zambia. He was later released.
