Egyptian editor arrested

CAIRO: Egyptian security services on Sunday arrested the editor-in-chief of prominent independent news outlet Mada Masr, its lawyer said, the latest in a crackdown against journalists.

Lina Attallah was arrested outside Cairo’s Tora prison as she was interviewing rights activist Laila Soueif, mother of jailed activist Alaa Abdel Fattah who recently began a hunger strike.

"The prison security guards asked Attallah to show her identification card and later called her in for an investigation that lasted three hours," lawyer Hassan al-Azhari told AFP.

"We knew afterwards that she was taken to a police station in Maadi district and that she will appear before the prosecution tomorrow (Monday) morning," he said. Azhari added that the reason behind the arrest and the charges against Attallah remained unclear.

Mada Masr is an online outlet that investigates corruption and security issues in both Arabic and English. Its website has been blocked in Egypt in recent years along with hundreds of others including many critical of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government. VPNs and other mirror sites are often used to bypass the block.