The past few weeks have not been ordinary for the Egyptian press. From early September through the first week of October, a succession of different incidents and crises brought old and recurring questions back to the fore: the freedom to practice journalism, the limits of union protection, the conditions of journalists working at news organizations and on digital platforms, and the situation of journalists who are detained or on trial. These questions have remained present since the incident known as the “storming of the Journalists Syndicate” in May 2016.
Over roughly one month, the Journalists Syndicate found itself facing a succession of cases. They began with the dispute over establishing a body to bring together news websites, and moved on to the case of photojournalist Hamdy El-Zaeem, then the arrest of the entire Egypt-based editorial team of the platform Matsadaash. The series ended with the summoning of journalist Rasha Azab and her questioning before the Supreme State Security Prosecution.
These events are unfolding in a country ranked 169th out of 180 in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders. In late September, the Committee to Protect Journalists said that 19 journalists remained behind bars in Egypt, before the arrest of the Matsadaash journalists.
The first crisis began with the controversy sparked by Minister of State for Media Diaa Rashwan's call to establish an institutional body bringing together news websites. The idea raised concerns within journalistic circles, voiced by Syndicate head Khaled El-Balshy and several members of the Syndicate Council, that it could lead to a framework parallel to the Syndicate or diminish its role in representing those working in the profession.
Rashwan later denied that the proposed body was meant to replace the Syndicate, saying it targets online press institutions, not individuals. The controversy reopened the issue of journalists working at news websites, their right to Syndicate membership, and the need for a formula that guarantees both their union representation and their professional protection.
A few days later, the case of photojournalist Hamdy El-Zaeem returned to the headlines, coinciding with his trial hearing scheduled for September 27. El-Zaeem was first arrested in September 2016 and released under precautionary measures in June 2018, then arrested again in January 2021. In September 2026, CPJ and partner organizations called for his release, noting that he remains in detention and on trial on charges that include spreading false news, misusing social media and joining a terrorist organization.
Rights organizations also called for his release and spoke of a deterioration in his health and his need for appropriate medical care. Syndicate head Khaled El-Balshy called for his release after he exhausted the legal limit on pretrial detention, with the Syndicate pledging to guarantee his attendance at trial hearings.
Before September ended, the third and most widely felt crisis arrived. On September 28 and 29, security forces arrested six journalists working for Matsadaash, the platform's entire editorial team based in Egypt, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists and rights organizations. The arrests took place at different locations and included raids on the homes of some of the journalists and the confiscation of personal phones and laptops.
The case escalated after lawyers and rights organizations said that several of the journalists stated before the Supreme State Security Prosecution that they were subjected to violations, mistreatment and coercion during their detention. The Syndicate announced legal measures over what was recorded in the investigations, including a complaint to the Public Prosecutor, while the Interior Ministry denied the allegations that the journalists were subjected to violations during their detention.
As October began, journalist Rasha Azab announced on October 4 that she had received a summons to appear the following day before the Supreme State Security Prosecution in Case No. 8025 of 2026. After more than six hours of questioning, prosecutors ordered her released on bail of EGP 10,000, after bringing charges against her related to promoting terrorist acts and using an internet website to promote ideas that advocate terrorist acts, over a post she published on her account on X on September 23.
Four consecutive developments, different in their details, put the Syndicate and the journalistic community before similar questions: Who represents those working on digital platforms? What are the limits of the protection the Syndicate can provide? And how are publication and journalism cases handled once they move into detention or investigation before the Supreme State Security Prosecution?
From the Storming of the Syndicate to a Widening Range of Restrictive Tools
The year 2016 was a major milestone in the relationship between the Egyptian authorities and the journalistic community. The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE) described the first half of that year as having seen “grave and unprecedented developments” in that relationship, amid rising violations tied to press and media freedom.
On May 1, 2016, security forces entered the Journalists Syndicate's headquarters to arrest journalists Amr Badr and Mahmoud El-Sakka, in an incident that the Syndicate and rights organizations said was the first of its kind in the Syndicate's history since its founding. The crisis later led to the referral to trial of then-Syndicate head Yehia Qallash and Council members Khaled El-Balshy and Gamal Abdel Rahim, on charges that included harboring wanted individuals and spreading false news about the incident.
In the following years, legal regulation extended further into the digital sphere. In 2018, Law No. 180 of 2018 on regulating the press and media was issued, extending some of its provisions to websites, blogs and personal accounts with 5,000 followers or more. It gave the Supreme Council for Media Regulation powers over them in the cases the law specifies, including the publication of false news.
In the same year, Cybercrime Law No. 175 of 2018 was issued, establishing a legal framework for blocking websites and for collecting and retaining certain data on the use of telecommunications and internet services. AFTE criticized these laws, arguing that they expanded the tools of online censorship, blocking and surveillance.
In parallel, Reporters Without Borders says journalists in Egypt are repeatedly prosecuted on charges of spreading false news or terrorism, and notes that laws not directly related to journalism are used in cases involving journalists.
Over the decade from 2016 to 2026, Egypt's ranking on the organization's World Press Freedom Index fell from 159th out of 180 countries in 2016 to 169th in 2026, a drop of ten places in ten years. In the 2026 ranking, Egypt scored 24.92 points and placed 168th on the political indicator, 167th on the economic indicator, 162nd on the legislative indicator, 169th on the social indicator and 163rd on the safety indicator.
Matsadaash Is Part of a Broader Crisis Hitting the Profession
Yehia Qallash, a former head of the Journalists Syndicate, says the latest developments come at a time that is hard to understand, particularly amid repeated official talk about developing the media, allowing “opinion and counter-opinion,” and restoring journalism's role.
In comments to Athar, Qallash likens the state of the press to “a patient in intensive care living on life support, with hope still remaining of saving him, only for us to be surprised by someone removing the devices from him one after another.” He argues that continued restrictions could move the profession from a “critical condition” to a more dangerous one.
He says the striking thing about some cases is what he calls the “prejudgment” of a journalist before investigations are complete. “People appear on satellite channels talking about terrorists, while we are talking about journalists who carry neither guns nor tanks. Their tools are their pens,” he says. “We may disagree or agree with them, but if the case concerns publication, it must be handled on that basis.”
According to Qallash, the restrictions are not limited to journalists alone. They extend to the freedom to launch newspapers and news websites and to the conditions under which the profession is practiced, he says, adding that journalism should not become a profession whose practitioners face the risk of mass arrest at their workplaces.
The former Syndicate head stresses the role of the Syndicate's General Assembly, which he considers historically one of the most important guarantees of the Syndicate's independence and of the defense of the profession, regardless of changes in the makeup of Syndicate Councils or the identity of the head.
He also points to legal safeguards related to the treatment of journalists, including notifying the Syndicate in some procedures and the rules tied to publication cases, saying the problem does not always lie in the absence of provisions but in the failure to observe them in some cases.
Qallash rejects the broad use of pretrial detention in publication-related cases, explaining that the published material is known, its author is known and his workplace is known, which in his view reduces the justifications on which pretrial detention usually rests.
He adds that journalists believed after the 2014 Constitution that the profession had made important progress, as the Constitution included a number of demands that the journalistic community had defended for years, before a gap emerged, in his view, between the written provisions and how they are applied.
In this context, Qallash recalls a May 1995 ruling by the Supreme Constitutional Court, headed by Justice Awad Mohamed Awad El-Morr, on freedom of expression and the right to criticize. The court affirmed that criticizing public affairs through the press or other means of expression is a guaranteed right, and linked the free circulation of opinions to society's ability to reach the truth through the flow of information and the plurality of viewpoints.
In the same ruling, the court stressed that freedom of expression should not be hemmed in by overly narrow restrictions, and that a degree of excess or exaggeration in some opinions should not become a reason to prevent their circulation. It also linked open debate to citizens' ability to discuss public affairs and hold those in charge to account.
Between Calls for Openness and a More Restrictive Reality
The latest crises came a few weeks after Minister of State for Media Diaa Rashwan, on August 20, invited journalists and media figures to what he called “venting” about the state of the profession and ways to advance it.
On September 21, at a meeting with editors-in-chief of news websites, Rashwan spoke of a directive from President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to open the way for a media dialogue that includes “opinion and counter-opinion,” and of preparations for a conference to discuss ways to develop Egyptian media.
Seven days later, the arrests of Matsadaash journalists began. These developments again raised the question of the distance between the official rhetoric on developing the media and widening the space for opinion, on one hand, and the environment in which journalists work, on the other.
In this context, journalist and Journalists Syndicate General Assembly member Viola Fahmy says the press scene has become, in her view, “bleak and worrying.” She argues that journalists should not be punished for their opinions or writing, and that the timing of the arrests of Matsadaash journalists, after years of the platform's work, raises questions about the charges against them.
Fahmy tells Athar that jailing journalists makes the situation more complicated and offers no solution to the crisis, adding that arresting or jailing journalists over their work also draws the attention of media outlets and organizations outside Egypt to the state of press freedom.
She also considers that Azab's summons, alongside the earlier incidents, reinforces her fear that the scene is heading toward further restrictions on press freedom and freedom of expression.
“I am still betting on the sensible people within circles close to power, and on their realizing that matters are not resolved through imprisonment,” she says. “There are many accountability mechanisms, including the Supreme Council for Media Regulation, which can take action if it finds violations or breaches of professional codes. But dealing with the matter through imprisonment is something entirely different.”
Fahmy links these developments to the official calls to develop the media and widen the space for opinion, arguing that a rhetoric calling for openness alongside measures she considers restrictive of the press weakens confidence in the ability of media dialogues and conferences to bring about tangible change.
She warns of another effect of this climate: pushing journalists toward self-censorship. “The worst thing about intimidation and fear is that journalists will begin imposing strict censorship on themselves because they are afraid of imprisonment or restrictions on their freedom,” she says. “At that point, a journalist will begin to think many times before writing even about a minor violation at a school or in a neighborhood, or about a public-service problem affecting citizens.”
Commenting on remarks by journalist Abdel Rahim Ali about the use of some modern tools and technologies in journalistic work, some of which he described as intelligence-related, Fahmy rejects that argument. She argues that a number of these tools and technologies have become widely available, and that using them does not in itself constitute evidence of intelligence activity.
She also criticizes the appearance of recordings and leaks related to the case in the media, arguing that the way the file was handled recalled, in her view, earlier periods marked by polarization and the airing of recordings and phone calls in the media.
Media Development: A Parallel Track
Against these crises, 2026 has also seen another official track related to media development. On February 5, the prime minister received the final report of the Main Committee for Media Development, after more than 175 hours of meetings and discussions involving 66 journalists, media figures, academics and experts distributed across eight subcommittees, ahead of presenting its recommendations to the president.
On July 4, the file returned to the fore with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's directives to develop the media system and open the way for “objective media dialogue” that makes room for opinion and counter-opinion, along with coordination to hold an annual meeting to review the state of Egyptian media and discuss its challenges and opportunities for development.
But the months that followed also saw successive crises within journalistic circles: a dispute over the future of union representation for journalists working at news websites, the renewal of Hamdy El-Zaeem's case, then the arrest of the entire Egypt-based editorial team of Matsadaash and the allegations of abuse during detention that followed, and finally the summoning and questioning of Rasha Azab before she was released on bail.
Ten years after the storming of the Journalists Syndicate, the events of 2026 show that many of the issues that came to the fore in 2016 are still present in different forms: detention and prosecutions, the limits of union protection, and the widening of the legal and digital tools used to control the press sphere, alongside Egypt's decline in the press freedom index. At the same time, an official discourse about developing the media and widening the space for “opinion and counter-opinion” comes to the fore. Between the two tracks, 2026 appears set to become another turning point for the profession, not because it repeats 2016, but because it may determine which direction the relationship between the press and the authorities will take in the coming years.