On Wednesday, October 7, the Egyptian Public Prosecution reported the detention of six Egyptian journalists from the “Don’t Believe” platform team for a period of 15 days as a precautionary measure pending investigations, in a case that sparked criticism from human rights organizations and brought back to the forefront a debate about the reality of freedom of the press and expression in Egypt.
The Egyptian Public Prosecution charged the detainees with charges including joining a terrorist group and spreading false news.
The Public Prosecution said, in a statement, that National Security Sector investigations attributed to the platform links to the Muslim Brotherhood, and spreading rumors and false news to push citizens to demonstrate and overthrow state institutions. She added that she "issued a permit to arrest and search the defendants," and that "their interrogation took place in the presence of their lawyers."
On the other hand, in an October 5 statement, the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate Council expressed “deep concern” about the detention of journalists.
The Council noted that one of the detained journalists is a member of the union, while the other five are trained journalists. The Council also confirmed that the six journalists were arrested “from their homes and some from the street during the period from September 28 to 29, 2026.”
The Journalists Syndicate Council called on the authorities to “release colleagues with any guarantee the investigating authorities deem necessary, and that it will pledge to bring them to investigation if they request.”
In the same context, the Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent, international, non-profit organization based in New York, called on the Egyptian authorities to immediately release the six journalists.
The Committee to Protect Journalists quoted Abdel Rahman Mansour, one of the founders of the “Don’t Believe” platform, as saying: “We have no connection to the Muslim Brotherhood, and the authorities know that.”
Regarding the conditions of detention of the six journalists, on October 5, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights quoted defense lawyers who attended the investigations with the detained journalists as saying that “most of the journalists proved before the Supreme State Security Prosecution... that they were subjected to various forms of torture and ill-treatment while they were detained at various headquarters of the National Security Sector in the days following their arrest and before being brought before any judicial body.”
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights added that most of the detained journalists reported in the investigation records that “the officers who arrested and detained them in different governorates forced them to record fabricated confessions, as the officers forced them to read them in front of the cameras from papers provided to them.”
On the other hand, the Egyptian Public Prosecution said, in an October 7 statement, that “it has been proven to the Public Prosecution that there are no visible injuries to any of the accused.”
The Egyptian Public Prosecution indicated that it "referred those who alleged that cruelty was used against him - three in number - to the Forensic Medicine Authority, which confirmed in its reports that they had no injuries, and that there were no signs indicating the use of any violence before them."
The reality of press freedom in Egypt
The issue of the arrest of the “Mtsadeqsh” platform journalists opened a broader discussion about the reality of press freedom in Egypt.
According to the “Reporters Without Borders” classification, Egypt is ranked 169 out of 180 countries in the Press Freedom Index for the year 2026.
Reporters Without Borders says that independent media outlets in Egypt face “censorship and prosecution,” and that journalists are often “accused of belonging to a terrorist organization and spreading false information.”
In the same context, Human Rights Watch said that what happened against the journalists of the “Mtsadeqsh” platform was not an isolated incident, and that it “documented repeated arrests and prosecutions in Egypt against peaceful critics, human rights defenders, journalists, and online content creators.”
Human Rights Watch noted that the Egyptian authorities "repeatedly ignore due process guarantees, while security forces subject people under investigation to enforced disappearance and detain them in various places of detention."
On the other hand, the Egyptian authorities always deny targeting journalists, stressing that there is a difference between practicing journalistic work and committing crimes punishable by law.
In your opinion,
How do you see the accusations against the journalists of the “Don’t Believe” platform?
What guarantees are necessary to ensure a fair trial for journalists accused in cases related to their work?
How do you evaluate the reality of press freedom in Egypt?
Why are human rights criticisms of press freedom increasing in Egypt?
How can we distinguish between legitimate journalistic criticism and the publication of fake news?
Are the Egyptian authorities fulfilling their duty towards freedom of the press and journalists?
We will discuss these and other topics with you in the episode on Friday, October 9.
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