Prominent Egyptian journalist faces prison at criminal trial

AI Summary

Lina Attalah, editor of Egypt's independent outlet Mada Masr, is due to face a criminal retrial that could lead to imprisonment. She was sentenced in absentia in 2024 over allegations of operating an unlicensed news website and publishing false news, charges widely used against journalists and dissidents.

Prominent Egyptian journalist Lina Attalah, the head of independent media outlet Mada Masr, is set to appear in a criminal court on Wednesday, facing possible prison time in a trial that has drawn international outcry. Attalah is being retried after she was handed a one-year prison sentence in absentia in 2024, without her knowledge, for operating a news website without a licence and "publishing false news" -- a charge commonly levelled against journalists and dissidents in Egypt.