Egypt’s Public Prosecution said on Wednesday 7 October that it had ordered six journalists from the fact-checking platform Matsada2sh held in pretrial detention while its investigation continues.
The six were detained on 28 and 29 September. The Interior Ministry announced their arrest on 1 October and accused the platform of links to the Muslim Brotherhood, which Matsada2sh denies.
What the statement says
The prosecution said the case began with investigations by the National Security Sector. These alleged that Brotherhood leaders abroad had instructed members to set up social media pages to spread rumours and false news and cast doubt on state institutions, in order to push citizens to protest.
According to the statement, the investigations concluded that Matsada2sh was one of the group’s media platforms, run by members abroad and staffed by people inside Egypt, one of them a member of the Journalists Syndicate.
The prosecution said it issued arrest and search warrants that led to six arrests. It said the six were questioned with their lawyers present, and that a Syndicate representative attended for the defendant who is a Syndicate member.
According to the statement, the first defendant admitted that he and the others had joined the Brotherhood’s media committee and worked on Matsada2sh under a group member it described as a fugitive abroad. The prosecution said he described meetings with that person over messaging apps, and being tasked with publishing rumours and false news about state institutions and officials, with the aim of bringing those institutions down. It said he also described highlighting only failings in state institutions, and escalating sectoral grievances by inventing or exaggerating incidents.
The prosecution said the same defendant admitted that he and the others received monthly payments in foreign currency, sent by bank transfer from a company owned by the group member abroad. It said his phone contained closed groups on an encrypted messaging app that included the other defendants and the man abroad, as well as emails from that man to the defendants. It added that his social media account carried posts supporting the Brotherhood and calling for the overthrow of the system of government, which he admitted posting when confronted with them.
The statement noted that the other defendants denied joining the Brotherhood, except one, who said he had been a member in the past and left before working at Matsada2sh. It said all of them confirmed working for the page, which is run from outside Egypt, and that all but one said they received regular payments in US dollars transferred from abroad.
Another defendant, the statement said, described the page as aiming to magnify domestic problems and build public anger that would lead to protests aimed at bringing down state institutions.
The prosecution said a technical examination showed that one defendant, whom the statement describes as “the journalist,” had posted content supporting the Brotherhood on social media, which he denied.
In response to allegations that the detained staff members of Matsada2sh had been mistreated, the statement said none of the six had visible injuries. It said three who had alleged mistreatment were referred to the Forensic Medicine Authority, whose reports found no injuries or signs of violence.
The statement, however, did not list the charges, or give a length for the detention order.
The defence’s response
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), whose lawyers represent the six, responded on Wednesday with a ten-point statement. It said statements the prosecution publishes on social media carry no legal evidentiary value and summarise a case that has not been put before any court. It pointed to the prosecution’s own reference to ongoing investigations.
EIPR said the statement left out that the six did not appear before prosecutors until five days after their arrest, a period in which their families and lawyers filed 18 complaints. It said they were held during those days under an exceptional custody provision of the 2015 Counterterrorism Law, which it said applies only when there is a risk of a terrorist crime. Since the accusations concern publishing rumours and false news, EIPR argued, the prosecution should have identified that risk.
EIPR also said the detaining authorities did not tell the six why they were being held or let them contact family or a lawyer, as that law requires. It said these points were entered into the record during questioning.
On the substance, EIPR said the payments described in the statement were salaries. According to EIPR, the company that owns the website, whose identity it said is known to state agencies, signed contracts with the journalists. They gave copies to Egyptian banks and were paid monthly into their accounts. EIPR said the online groups and emails cited by the prosecution were used to coordinate daily editorial work.
EIPR added that the statement did not identify a single report published by Matsada2sh as false, and that none of the journalists was confronted with one during nearly 30 hours of questioning each. It argued that the conduct the statement describes, such as highlighting shortcomings in state institutions, is journalistic work protected by the constitution and the law.
On the forensic referrals, EIPR said the journalists had not claimed visible injuries, and that prosecutors had not heard them as victims in the complaints they filed against the officers who held them. It added that the statement did not mention the journalists’ testimony that they had been made to record confessions.
EIPR called for the six to be released and the case against them closed, and for the reported violations to be investigated.
Matsada2sh has said since 1 October that it has no links to the Brotherhood and that its staff are Egyptians paid through Egyptian banks.
Questioning and allegations of mistreatment
The first of the six was brought before the Supreme State Security Prosecution late on Saturday 3 October and questioned until Sunday morning, according to EIPR. It said he was ordered held for 15 days, on charges of joining a terrorist group and spreading false news using a social media site. The other five were questioned from Sunday evening.
On Monday 5 October, EIPR said most of the journalists had told prosecutors they were mistreated while held at National Security Agency facilities, and had been made to read prepared statements on camera. The Interior Ministry denied the allegations the same day.
A security source quoted in its statement said the claims were baseless and an attempt by the defendants to evade the charges, and that the case was before the judiciary.
That evening, the Journalists Syndicate’s board decided unanimously to file a complaint with the Prosecutor General over the allegations, and asked that any confessions obtained under coercion be ruled invalid.
The Syndicate’s board has also asked for the six to be released on the Syndicate’s guarantee, citing the young age and limited experience of some of them, and said it would guarantee their appearance for questioning.
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