Egyptian human rights organizations have called for an immediate, independent investigation into allegations that security agencies subjected six journalists from the independent investigative platform Matsadaksh to enforced disappearance, torture, and forced confessions following their arrests in late September.
In a joint statement, eight organizations reported that National Security Agency personnel arrested all six members of the platform’s editorial team between September 28 and the early hours of September 29, confiscating their phones and computers. The journalists were allegedly held incommunicado for five days at a National Security Agency facility, without access to their families or private consultations with lawyers. Eighteen reports were filed concerning their disappearance before they appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution.
The six journalists were subsequently charged in Case No. 8083 of 2026 with joining a terrorist group, publishing false news, and misusing social media. Five also faced terrorism-financing charges. On October 5, prosecutors ordered their pretrial detention, and they were transferred to Badr 1 Prison.
According to the organizations, the journalists told prosecutors that they had been blindfolded, restrained, beaten, stripped, subjected to electric shocks, threatened with harm to themselves or their relatives, and forced to record fabricated confessions. One journalist’s lawyer reported that his client was denied medication and compelled to repeat a filmed confession over eight hours so that signs of physical abuse would not be visible.
The organizations criticized the prosecution for failing to investigate these allegations, instead merely stating that no visible injuries had been detected. They also condemned its failure to address the journalists’ five-day disappearance and denial of access to legal counsel.
The statement described the case as part of a longstanding campaign against independent journalism in Egypt, citing the detention and prosecution of other journalists, editors, and commentators. According to the organizations, 26 journalists are currently imprisoned in Egypt, which ranks 169th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index.
The signatories also recalled the UN Committee against Torture’s December 2023 findings concerning the systematic use of torture and ill-treatment by Egyptian security forces and the absence of effective independent mechanisms for investigating complaints.
They highlighted the contradiction between these practices and the Egyptian government’s announced preparations for a national media conference on December 3, supposedly intended to encourage public dialogue and diverse viewpoints.
The organizations demanded the immediate release of journalists detained for their professional activities, independent investigations into allegations of torture and enforced disappearance, an end to politically motivated prosecutions, the removal of restrictions on independent media websites, and guarantees that journalists can work without intimidation or retaliation.
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Source:
Egypt: Torture of Journalists Indicative of State Policy rather than Isolated Incident
