The Egyptian authorities have charged four journalists from Mada Masr, one of the country’s last independent news outlets, with insulting members of parliament, misusing social media and spreading fake news. Rights groups say this is the latest sign that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has no intention of allowing space for dissent despite the ongoing national dialogue with secular opposition parties.

The National Future Party (NFP) — the largest party in parliament that is closely tied to Sisi — filed lawsuits in several governorates in Egypt after Mada Masr reported Aug. 31 that the party was about to oust a number of senior members for corruption. 

A day after the article was published on Mada Masr’s Arabic-language site, the NFP released a statement denying the report and accusing it of aiming to shake the public’s confidence in the party.

On Sept. 7, the Cairo Appeals Prosecution summoned Mada Masr Editor-in-Chief Lina Attalah and staff journalists Rana Mamdouh, Sara Seif Eddin and Beesan Kassab. The three reporters shared a byline on the outlet’s news bulletin, which included a summary of Mada Masr's feature story on the NFP. However, none of the journalists wrote or contributed reporting to the article itself.