The assault on an Egyptian journalist, who was beaten and dragged along the ground outside 6 October Central Hospital, west of Cairo, just days ago, highlighted the risks journalists face in Egypt.

A video (https://h1.nu/1GKSf), widely shared on social media, shows around seven people beating and dragging journalist Mohamed Faisal and detaining him inside the hospital while he was reporting. One of the assailants claims to be an “army officer”, reflecting the wider security crackdown on Egyptians, particularly journalists.

Faisal, who works for the government-authorised website Besraha, received a public apology from Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, who also decided to terminate the contract with the security company responsible. The incident, however, reopened old wounds among journalists.

Since Abdel Fattah El-Sisi came to power in a military coup on 3 July 2013, journalists have faced repeated persecution. In 2026, Egypt ranked 169th out of 180 countries in the annual World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (https://h1.nu/1GKSB).

The assault on Faisal came just days after journalists from Matsadaqsh, an independent fact-checking platform, called for medical examinations after being tortured and subjected to electric shocks to extract confessions. The Egyptian Public Prosecution later denied the claims.

On the evenings of 28 and 29 September, Egyptian security forces arrested the platform’s entire editorial team. Their phones and computers were seized from their homes, and their whereabouts were not disclosed. They were also denied contact with their families and lawyers, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent international organisation based in New York.

The detained journalists — Abdullah Qadri, Mohamed Ashraf Abu Omayra, Islam Barakat, Mohamed Adel, Omar Helal and Mohamed Mahmoud — said during questioning that they had been tortured and otherwise ill-treated to force them to record video statements incriminating themselves while in National Security Agency custody. They were subsequently brought before the Supreme State Security Prosecution, which ordered their pretrial detention for 15 days in connection with case No. 8083 of 2026, according to Amnesty International (https://h1.nu/1GKTj).

In a statement titled “Torture of Matsadaqsh Journalists: State Policy, Not Just Individual Misconduct”, the........

© Middle East Monitor