Egyptian authorities arrest entire editorial team of independent media site

NEW YORK -- Egyptian authorities on Thursday accused six journalists detained this week of membership in the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, saying they produced fabricated news for an online outlet in exchange for funding from abroad.The arrests swept up the entire editorial team of Matsadaash, Arabic for “Don't Believe,” one of Egypt’s few independent outlets, which started eight years ago as a fact-checking platform and has since expanded into investigative reporting in Egypt and other Arab countries. “The claims are false,” said Abdelrahman Mansour, one of the founders of Matsadaash. He noted that after two of its editors were arrested in 2023, State Security investigators found no affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood. The editors were released after 36 hours and never charged. “It's very difficult for us to understand why this is happening,” he said.Egypt is among the world’s worst jailers of journalists, according to the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists. The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights says 26 journalists are now behind bars in Egypt.Matsadaash, founded in 2018 as an online platform, has gained credibility and a large following in Egypt, where independent...