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Monday, 25 November 2019

Security forces raid Mada Masr, arrest three staff members

A raid on independent media outlet Mada Masr is dominating the narrative on Egypt this morning in the international press: Security forces yesterday entered the office of independent media outlet Mada Masr, seizing laptops and phones and detaining three staff members, including editor-in-chief Lina Attallah. All three were later released. The news outlet also said that two foreign staff members were taken to their homes to collect their passports, but were also later released. Shady Zalat, an editor who had been arrested on Friday night, was released after the raid. The story is getting prominent play in top-tier international media including Financial Times | Wall Street Journal | Associated Press│Reuters│Agence France-Press│CNN│BBC│The Guardian│New York Times│Washington Post│Deutsche Welle│ABC News│The Independent.

The Committee to Protest Journalists called on the government to end its “retaliation campaign” against the news outlet in a statement on its website.

Also getting coverage in the foreign press:

  • Life as a limestone quarrier: Agence France-Presse talks to the laborers risking their lives in Egypt’s limestone quarries for just EGP 100 a day.
  • Conditions for Egyptian Christians are “getting better,” says a Bishop from Assiut, according to Christian publication Aleteia.
  • Authorities detained a Gulf citizen flying out of Cairo with “dozens” of narcotics in his luggage, the Associated Press reports.
  • In search of Queen Nefertiti: Noted Egyptologist Zahi Hawass believes that he may soon find the tomb of Queen Nefertiti in the Valley of the Kings, where a huge excavation is currently taking place, the International Business Times reports.

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