Egypt plans tougher online regulations despite existing cybercrime law

As if the witch hunt against independent news websites and fact-checking services such as Matsda2sh and Mada Masr over the past three weeks were not enough, the government appears to be preparing a new Digital Safety Law alongside proposed amendments to the Penal Code that would increase fines for crimes involving rumours and false news.

The proposals follow what the Cabinet described as a review of measures to address harmful practices on social media.

On Wednesday, the Cabinet reviewed in its weekly meeting a report outlining recommendations by a committee formed under Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly’s Decree No. 2417 of 2026 to examine legislative and technical measures to address harmful online practices and safeguard Egyptian family values and social cohesion.

The report proposed establishing a national digital safety framework to strengthen the state's role in regulating the digital environment, overseeing platforms and managing systemic risks associated with their activities.

A key recommendation is to strengthen the technical capacities of the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA), the Supreme Council for Media Regulation and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to monitor and respond to violating online content.

Under the proposals, the NTRA's Content Unit, which currently serves as the state's channel for dealing with digital platforms and implementing removal and blocking decisions issued by the media regulator, courts and other authorities, would be developed into a fully integrated national technical centre.

Watch this : CAIRO , the city and challenge

It’s been a while since I watched a short documentary that moved me like this.

You must watch “Cairo.” This short documentary captures the feelings many Egyptian photographers and videographers have towards their beloved city.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve been approached by concerned citizens asking to see “my permit” to photograph in Cairo or questioning whether I’m allowed to take pictures at all. I can recount the feeling that it is dangerous.

I share the same feelings and passion as Ahmed Alaa, the director of this short film.

“So if you do not let us film it today, who will know it tomorrow?”

Alaa’s words hit like salt on an open wound.

And Court fines Lina Attalah LE3 million, orders Mada Masr closure

In a huge blow to the Egyptian press and freedom of expression, Mada Masr Editor-in-Chief Lina Attalah was released on Tuesday after spending nearly seven hours in custody following her conviction by the New Cairo Misdemeanor Court for managing an unlicensed website.

The court imposed a LE3 million fine — I believe the highest fine in a publishing- or media-related case in Egypt — and ordered the closure of Mada Masr’s website and the confiscation of its equipment and devices.

Mada Masr paid the fine in full, but Attalah’s release procedures took several hours to complete.

During the release procedures, Attalah learned that she had been sentenced in absentia to one year in prison in 2024 on charges of publishing false news and managing an unlicensed website.

Her lawyers took steps to challenge the ruling, with a retrial scheduled for November 11.

It is a sad day for the press and freedom of expression, not only in Egypt but across the Global South.

Lina Attalah to stand trial in Egypt in latest case against Mada Masr

Lina Attalah, editor-in-chief of independent Egyptian award-winning news website Mada Masr, is due to stand trial before a New Cairo misdemeanour court on Tuesday, 27 October, on charges of establishing and operating a website without a licence, following an unusually swift referral by the Supreme State Security Prosecution.

The referral came on Thursday, 22 October, less than 24 hours after Attalah was released on EGP 100,000 bail following more than six hours of questioning by prosecutors.

She was investigated in Case No. 9072 of 2026, in which prosecutors initially accused her of publishing false news and operating a website without a licence.

The false news allegation was dropped from the charges in the referral decision, leaving the licensing charge to be heard by the court.

According to Mada Masr's legal counsel, Hassan El-Azhari, prosecutors questioned Attalah about the website's legal status and its coverage of recent protests inside Egyptian prisons, as well as other journalistic work.

El-Azhari described the decision to refer the internationally award-winning Attalah to trial within hours of the investigation's conclusion, with a hearing scheduled for the following week, as an unjustified rush.

Al-Azhar’s Hail Mary: Egypt’s last attempt at sanity in the Middle East before regional war

On Sunday, Al-Azhar Al-Sharif issued an urgent appeal to Arab and Muslim nations to end ongoing conflicts, calling for an immediate and comprehensive cessation of hostilities and the formation of a joint mediation committee to help de-escalate tensions across the region.

In its appeal, Al-Azhar urged Arab and Muslim countries to “uphold the spirit of fraternity and the bonds of faith, kinship, and shared language”, while calling on all parties to “give precedence to wisdom; embrace reason and dialogue” to halt the fighting and destruction.

The institution also called for the urgent establishment of a Mediation and De-escalation Committee comprising representatives from across the Arab and Muslim worlds, selected from among “respected, wise, and principled figures sincerely committed to peace, reconciliation, and stability”.

Citing the Quran, Al-Azhar said the appeal was inspired by the verse: “And if two groups of believers fight each other, then make peace between them” (49:9).

The proposed committee would be tasked with taking immediate action to defuse ongoing crises, bridge differences between the parties concerned, and resolve disputes among members of the same faith and Ummah (Islamic community).

According to Al-Azhar, the initiative aims to safeguard the strength and sovereignty of Arab nations, protect their peoples and preserve their resources for future generations.

Al-Azhar affirmed its readiness to support the committee, expressing confidence in the ability of all parties to overcome their differences, put past disputes behind them and prevent further bloodshed.

It urged all sides to “place the common good above all other considerations” and protect innocent lives, while praying for the region to be spared “the horrors and suffering of war and conflict”.

This is not simply a statement calling for unity in a turbulent region. It is an unusual statement issued at an unusual time and received unusually.

The statement came hours after a meeting of Egypt’s National Defence Council, which pledged to provide all necessary and possible support to Saudi Arabia in defending its borders amid escalating attacks against the kingdom, which it described as unacceptable.

Days at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo: The Two Brothers before they head to Italy

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo (EMC) announced earlier this week that it has restored the famous “Two Brothers” Fayoum portrait, which will take part in an exhibition abroad in Italy.

I’d like to seize this opportunity to share my old photo of the “Two Brothers” from before the restoration, taken at the EMC more than 10 years ago.

The Portrait of the two brothers in 2016 at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo

According to the EMC, the round wooden panel, commonly known as the “Tondo of the Two Brothers,” depicts two brothers whose purple cloaks, fastened with brooches, suggest they may have been warriors. They may have died together. The old gallery label dates the portrait to the 2nd century AD, while the EMC website is more specific: the reign of Hadrian (c. AD 117-138).

My old photo doesn’t show it, but above the shoulder of the darker-skinned young man there is a small figure.

The EMC describes it as Hermes, while other sources read it as Hermanubis, a fusion of Ancient Egyptian Anubis and Ancient Greek Hermes.

Above the shoulder of the other young man is a figure said to be Osiris-Antinous, a fusion of Osiris and Antinous.

The EMC does not name it, although it notes that the figure holds a staff and wears an Egyptian crown. At first glance, I thought it was Mars in his famous naked pose from Pompeii.

Navi Pillay’s Nobel win highlights genocide in Gaza

“The last thing I did was deliver the report on Gaza, naming what is happening there as genocide,” 2026 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Navi Pillay told a group of journalists and a crowd celebrating her win early Friday in Nuremberg, Germany.

The 85-year-old South African former International Criminal Court judge was referring to her work as head of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which concluded in a 72-page report released in September 2025 that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.

"The last thing I did is the report on Gaza naming what is happening there as genocide. One of the main reactions to that report [was] paying tribute to me for my courage.. why would you need courage to speak the truth?" Navi Pillay upon winning the 2026 Nobel peace prize https://t.co/hYPA94eFLe

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) October 9, 2026

The UN Commission of Inquiry, headed by Pillay, held Israel responsible for committing four of the five acts of genocide defined in the Genocide Convention.

The four acts it identified were killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group's physical destruction, in whole or in part; and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.