Egypt: Authorities Arrest Entire Investigative Newsroom

Egyptian security forces arrested six journalists working for the independent investigative journalism platform Matsda2sh on September 28 and 29, 2026, and appear to have forcibly disappeared them, Human Rights Watch said. The journalists’ whereabouts are unknown and their families and lawyers have not been permitted contact with them, Human Rights Watch reports. Security forces arrested the journalists in raids across the country. They are: Abdallah Qadry, Mohamed Ashraf Abu Emeira, Islam Barakat, Omar Helal, Mohamed Mahmoud, and Mohamed Adel. The six journalists constitute the investigate platform’s entire editorial newsroom. “Egyptian authorities’ simultaneous arrest of the entire newsroom at a prominent independent news platform is deeply alarming,” said Bassam Khawaja, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. […]