Washington, D.C., October 2, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Egyptian authorities to immediately release the six detained journalists working for investigative media platform Matsadaash, “Don’t Believe It”, reveal their whereabouts, ensure they have prompt access to lawyers and families, and drop any charges stemming solely from their legitimate journalistic work.
The crackdown began with security forces raiding the homes of journalists Mohamed Ashraf Abu Emeira and Abdallah Qadry, who were arrested on Monday evening and early Tuesday morning. By the end of Tuesday, security forces had also detained Islam Barakat and Omar Helal at their homes in Gharbiya and Port Said, respectively, while two more journalists, Mohamed Mahmoud and Mohamed Adel, were arrested in Cairo streets.
“The arrest and apparent disappearance of six journalists from a single newsroom is a grave escalation in Egypt’s campaign against independent journalism,” said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah. “The international community must not look away as Egyptian authorities systematically intimidate and silence independent media. CPJ warns that this crackdown is a direct assault on journalists’ fundamental right to report freely and independently, and risks deepening a climate of fear that threatens independent journalism across Egypt.”
On Thursday, Egypt’s Interior Ministry accused Matsadaash of seeking to destabilize the country through disinformation, describing it as an unlicensed, foreign-run page spreading false content. The statement also linked the platform and its founder, Abdelrahman Mansour, to the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt designated a terrorist organization in 2013.
Speaking to CPJ by phone, Mansour rejected the accusations.
“We have no affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood, and the authorities know this. In 2023, our former colleague Karim Asad was arrested after we published a major investigation. The authorities investigated these same allegations, and he was released within 36 hours,” he said.
“Our commitment to independent journalism has remained unchanged. These accusations misrepresent who we are and the work we do.”
“Our journalists deserve recognition for their work. Instead, they have been held for more than 72 hours, their whereabouts unknown, without access to their families or our lawyers at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. We demand to know where they are, insist on their right to contact their families and lawyers, and call for their immediate release,” he added.
Egypt remains one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists, with 25 currently behind bars.
CPJ emailed Egypt’s Public Prosecutor’s Office for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Editor’s note: This alert has been updated after publication with quotes from founder Abdelrahman Mansour, and the platform’s preferred English transliteration of its name, Matsadaash.