Egypt: Mada Masr journalist briefly detained during reporting trip to Ras el-Hekma

An Egyptian journalist who was arrested while on her way to report in a coastal town earmarked for an Emirati development project has been released on bail, according to the Egyptian independent news site, Mada Masr.

Rana Mamdouh, who works for Mada Masr, was arrested at the Alamein toll station on 10 March, while en route to Ras el-Hekma, shortly after Egypt announced a $35bn deal with the United Arab Emirates to develop the Mediterranean coastal town.

According to Mada Masr, Mamdouh was questioned for over an hour and then taken to Alamein police station where she was held for over 10 hours and denied recourse to a lawyer or contact with her family.

She was released on bail on Monday, according to Mada Masr. No further information regarding charges against Mamdouh has been disclosed, the online newspaper posted on X.

Mada Masr’s lawyer condemned her detention as an obstruction to her professional work, and therefore illegal.

The head of the Journalists Syndicate union, Khaled el-Balshy, said: "Considering the fact that she was out on assignment, an assignment that she has not completed, her work cannot be scrutinised at this point.” 

In a statement released on Sunday, the union's freedom committee called for Mamdouh's release, saying that her arrest “while she was on her way to practice journalistic work conveys a negative message and is a dangerous sign regarding the freedom to practice journalism".

Mada Masr has long been targeted by Egyptian authorities. 

In October, the independent news site was referred to the country's public prosecutor, and had its website blocked for six months following a report in October on the potential displacement of Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt's Sinai.

The site's editor-in-chief, Lina Attalah, was prosecuted and charged with publishing "false news".

She was summoned for interrogation only days after another investigative report by the website revealed how intelligence-linked companies and an influential Sinai businessman are profiteering from the siege on Gaza.