Egyptian journalist Lina Attalah detained after court orders news site's closure

The editor-in-chief of the independent Egyptian news outlet Mada Masr has been taken into custody after a court convicted her of managing an unlicensed website and ordered its closure, her lawyers say.

Lina Attalah will be held until she pays the fine of 3m Egyptian pounds ($53,500; £40,100) also handed down by the New Cairo Misdemeanours Court. It was the maximum possible penalty for the charge, which she had rejected.

The human rights group Amnesty International said the verdict represented "a crushing blow to press freedom".

It comes only weeks after six journalists working for the independent fact-checking platform Matsda2sh were charged with belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

Egypt is among the top jailers of journalists globally, with 25 currently behind bars, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has overseen what human rights groups say is an unprecedented crackdown on dissent since he led the military's overthrow of his predecessor, Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Morsi, in 2013.

Tens of thousands of people have been detained, mainly Brotherhood officials and supporters but also leading secular and liberal activists, media workers and academics.

The CPJ said Mada Masr, which was founded in 2013, was a vital source of critical reporting in Egypt and that it had long faced pressure from authorities over its journalism.

Kaynak: BBC News World RSS (Açık Basın / Haber Servisi)