Director of Policy and Government Relations @ACMER_US. Formally @MideastDC & @POMED, focusing on US policy to MENA. @ForumArmsTrade Expert.
Joined March 2016
- Tweets3.3K
- Following466
- Followers2.3K
- Likes9.7K
Seth Binder retweeted
Yesterday, after weeks of escalating crackdowns, Egypt’s govt shut down Mada Masr, one of the country’s leading independent outlets, & convicted its editor-in-chief, Lina Attalah.
They must reverse this decision & stop their assault on press freedoms.
Journalism is not a crime.
Seth Binder retweeted
We should all be alarmed by how comfortable some of the most powerful people in this country have become openly dehumanizing Arabs and Muslims.
Seth Binder retweeted
Important statement from the top Democrat of @HouseForeign, @RepGregoryMeeks, calling for an end to Egypt’s attacks on press freedom.
After next week’s midterms, he may once again be running the committee come January:
RM @RepGregoryMeeks: The Egyptian government’s closure of @MadaMasr and its politically motivated detention and conviction of editor Lina Attalah is unacceptable. These actions are attacks on press freedom and a blatant effort to silence independent journalism. I call on Egypt to reverse the closure and release wrongfully detained journalists.
nytimes.com/2026/10/27/world…
Seth Binder retweeted
RM @RepGregoryMeeks: The Egyptian government’s closure of @MadaMasr and its politically motivated detention and conviction of editor Lina Attalah is unacceptable. These actions are attacks on press freedom and a blatant effort to silence independent journalism. I call on Egypt to reverse the closure and release wrongfully detained journalists.
nytimes.com/2026/10/27/world…
Seth Binder retweeted
In a massive escalation of its crackdown on independent media, Egyptian authorities today ordered the closure of Mada Masr, Egypt’s leading independent news outlet.
This is a brazen attack on press freedom and an attempt to silence one of the last major independent voices in Egypt. This comes on the heels of the arrest of the entire newsroom from Matsadaash, another independent news outlet, just a few weeks ago.
Egypt must reverse this decision, release all wrongfully detained journalists, and end its assault on the free press.
Seth Binder retweeted
We're outraged that an Egyptian court has ordered the closure of Mada Masr and fined its editor-in-chief, Lina Attalah, 3 million Egyptian pounds.
The trial was a sham: the defense did not have sufficient time to examine the case files, the judge wouldn't hear witnesses or consider evidence, police packed the courtroom, and the court forced a lawyer on Lina even though she already had a legal team.
Mada Masr is one of Egypt's last independent media outlets, and Lina is among the region's most principled and courageous journalists. This verdict is the latest escalation in an unprecedented assault on press freedom, as authorities move to silence what remains of Egypt's independent media.
Egyptian authorities should reverse this ruling. Congress must speak up and demand Egypt end its crackdown on independent media.
xitter.cf/MadaMasr/status/211504…
Mada Masr Editor-in-Chief Lina Attalah was fined LE3 million by the New Cairo Misdemeanor Court, which convicted her on charges of managing an unlicensed website, issuing an order for the website’s closure. Attalah was taken into custody after the issue of the ruling.
Tuesday’s session at the ninth circuit of the New Cairo Misdemeanor Court, presided over by judge Mohamed Mubarak, was temporarily suspended for deliberations after Attalah’s defense counsel requested time to review the case file.
After the court returned from deliberations, the judge ordered the courtroom cleared of everyone except Attalah and her defense counsel, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights’ executive director Hossam Bahgat, who was also present, told Mada Masr. The room then filled with plainclothes officers and guards, with a National Security Agency officer in attendance, he added.
The presiding judge and a Supreme State Security Prosecution representative returned to the session and the judge announced that the court has decided to stand by its rejection of all the procedural arguments presented by the defense, including requests to bring in any documentation or hear any witnesses.
The judge then asked the defense team to present its plea. The counsel insisted that it would not submit a plea as long as its requests were unanswered by the court.
The judge then abruptly asked for a lawyer unknown to any member of the defense counsel to be brought in, “in a move that astonished all those present,” said Bahgat, and announced that the court decided to appoint a lawyer for Attalah.
At that point, all members of the defense counsel cried out to reject the court’s appointment of a lawyer when the eight chosen lawyers were present. Attalah herself spoke to say she did not accept the court-appointed lawyer acting on her behalf, an objection the judge refused to have recorded in the session’s minutes.
"In an even more shocking move,” said Bahgat, the judge himself began to log down the requests of the court-appointed lawyer, without the lawyer having said a word. The judge then read out the conviction amid shouts and protests from the defense counsel.
The judge sentenced Attalah to the maximum possible penalty: a LE3 million fine, the closure of Mada Masr’s website and the confiscation of its property.
Security personnel then surrounded Attalah, lifted her off the ground and took her out of the courtroom, where she remains in custody in the courthouse.
Seth Binder retweeted
One way to "strengthen support for atrocity survivors" in Sudan would be to block the main government backer of the El Fasher slaughter from installing the next UN Secretary General.
Will the UK exercise its P5 power to do so?
In less than a month, Egyptian authorities have taken a sledgehammer to press freedom in Egypt. They arrested the entire newsroom of Matsadaash and have now ordered the closure of the leading independent news outlet, Mada Masr. A core pillar of int'l law in under attack in Egypt.
Seth Binder retweeted
An Egyptian court has ordered the closure of news site @MadaMasr and security forces detained its editor in chief, the legendary Egyptian journalist Lina Attalah, taking her out of the courtroom.
Mada is one of the last remaining bastions of the free press in Egypt.
Mada Masr Editor-in-Chief Lina Attalah was fined LE3 million by the New Cairo Misdemeanor Court, which convicted her on charges of managing an unlicensed website, issuing an order for the website’s closure. Attalah was taken into custody after the issue of the ruling.
Tuesday’s session at the ninth circuit of the New Cairo Misdemeanor Court, presided over by judge Mohamed Mubarak, was temporarily suspended for deliberations after Attalah’s defense counsel requested time to review the case file.
After the court returned from deliberations, the judge ordered the courtroom cleared of everyone except Attalah and her defense counsel, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights’ executive director Hossam Bahgat, who was also present, told Mada Masr. The room then filled with plainclothes officers and guards, with a National Security Agency officer in attendance, he added.
The presiding judge and a Supreme State Security Prosecution representative returned to the session and the judge announced that the court has decided to stand by its rejection of all the procedural arguments presented by the defense, including requests to bring in any documentation or hear any witnesses.
The judge then asked the defense team to present its plea. The counsel insisted that it would not submit a plea as long as its requests were unanswered by the court.
The judge then abruptly asked for a lawyer unknown to any member of the defense counsel to be brought in, “in a move that astonished all those present,” said Bahgat, and announced that the court decided to appoint a lawyer for Attalah.
At that point, all members of the defense counsel cried out to reject the court’s appointment of a lawyer when the eight chosen lawyers were present. Attalah herself spoke to say she did not accept the court-appointed lawyer acting on her behalf, an objection the judge refused to have recorded in the session’s minutes.
"In an even more shocking move,” said Bahgat, the judge himself began to log down the requests of the court-appointed lawyer, without the lawyer having said a word. The judge then read out the conviction amid shouts and protests from the defense counsel.
The judge sentenced Attalah to the maximum possible penalty: a LE3 million fine, the closure of Mada Masr’s website and the confiscation of its property.
Security personnel then surrounded Attalah, lifted her off the ground and took her out of the courtroom, where she remains in custody in the courthouse.
Seth Binder retweeted
The ruling to shut down @MadaMasr and confiscate its equipment, alongside the detention of its editor-in-chief, Lina Attalah, pending payment of bail, is a outrageous attack on independent journalism in Egypt. Journalists must be free to report without facing imprisonment.
Seth Binder retweeted
🚨 Tomorrow in Egypt, Lina Attalah, editor-in-chief of @MadaMasr, goes on trial for running a news site without a license — a license Mada Masr has sought since 2018 and authorities have never granted. A conviction could bring heavy fines and the closure of the outlet.
Also tomorrow, six journalists from @matsda2sh — the independent investigative platform's entire newsroom — will face a hearing on renewing their detention. They were arrested a month ago, and some have told prosecutors they were tortured in custody.
Both cases are part of an escalating campaign to silence Egypt’s few remaining independent media outlets. Authorities must drop the charges against Lina, license Mada Masr, and free the Matsadaash journalists and every journalist jailed for their work.
Read more: acmer.us/urgent-global-call-…
Seth Binder retweeted
1/2 To me, this is the biggest story out of Egypt today. @Linaattalah has pioneered independent journalism since well before Jan. 25, 2011. @MadaMasr remains one of its few surviving spaces. This chilling attack should give everyone pause.
🟠The Supreme State Security Prosecution referred Mada Masr editor-in-chief Lina Attalah today to trial on charges of establishing, managing and operating a website without a license. Her trial is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, October 27.
🟠The case, registered as Case No. 11743/2026, Fifth Settlement Misdemeanors, and No. 9072/2026, Supreme State Security, will be heard at the New Cairo Court in the Fifth Settlement. The prosecution accused Attalah of violating Law No. 180/2018 regulating the press, media and the Supreme Council for Media Regulation.
🟠Attalah received the referral order less than 24 hours after her release on LE100,000 bail, following more than six hours of questioning by the Supreme State Security Prosecution. During the interrogation, prosecutors accused her of running an unlicensed website and publishing false news domestically and abroad.
🟠According to Mada Masr, the questioning concerned its reporting on a wave of prison protests following the postponement of the new Criminal Procedure Code’s implementation. Prosecutors also asked about the outlet’s work and its efforts to obtain a license.
Find out all the details via the following link:
tinyurl.com/4jerka2t
#مدى_مصر #لينا_عطالله @madamasr
Seth Binder retweeted
Less than a month after arresting the entire Matsadaash newsroom, the Egyptian govt has now filed baseless charges against the editor-in-chief of Mada Masr, continuing their largest crackdown in years.
This assault on the free press must end NOW. Journalism is not a crime.
CPJ condemns the referral of @MadaMasr Editor-in-Chief Lina Attalah to trial for operating a website without a license that Egyptian authorities have themselves refused to grant for years. Egypt is weaponizing its media law to punish independent journalism and intensify one of its worst crackdowns on the press in years, which began with the arrest of six Matsdaash journalists. It is long past time for Egypt to end this campaign and allow independent media to report freely.
Seth Binder retweeted
CPJ condemns the referral of @MadaMasr Editor-in-Chief Lina Attalah to trial for operating a website without a license that Egyptian authorities have themselves refused to grant for years. Egypt is weaponizing its media law to punish independent journalism and intensify one of its worst crackdowns on the press in years, which began with the arrest of six Matsdaash journalists. It is long past time for Egypt to end this campaign and allow independent media to report freely.
Seth Binder retweeted
In an absolutely egregious escalation against press freedom, Egyptian journalist and @MadaMasr Editor-in-Chief @Linaattalah has been referred to trial on charges of establishing, managing, and operating a website without a license. Her trial is set to begin this Tuesday, Oct 27.
Seth Binder retweeted
Mada Masr Editor-in-Chief Lina Attalah was referred to trial on Thursday on charges of establishing and managing a website without a license. Sessions will begin on October 27, according to lawyer Hassan al-Azhari, Mada Masr’s legal counsel, who described the “haste” in the trial referral, which came just hours after the interrogation closed, and its scheduling for the coming week as “unjustified urgency” given the absence of circumstances in the case that require rapid resolution. storage.googleapis.com/madam…
Seth Binder retweeted
LOL: Days after the FBI busted an alleged Saudi espionage operation inside OpenAI, here's the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh proudly celebrating America's AI partnership with Saudi Arabia.
Seth Binder retweeted
"Mada Masr's Editor-in-Chief Lina Attalah was summoned on Monday by Egypt's Supreme State Security Prosecution. In less than a month, Egyptian authorities have detained an entire newsroom, and summoned journalist Rasha Azab. CPJ is deeply concerned by this unprecedented crackdown on independent journalism. It must end immediately."
— Sara Qudah, MENA Regional Director
@MadaMasr #JournalismIsNotACrime
Seth Binder retweeted
Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine was brutally attacked by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank today. Heidi is the best of the best – a badass American war photographer I've had the pleasure of working with many times in the West Bank. These settlers, and the IDF soldiers who stood by and did nothing as they beat Heidi, must be held accountable.
washingtonpost.com/world/202…
Seth Binder retweeted
Human rights conditions only work when they’re enforced. Thank you @RepMcGovern for calling for the release of the six Matsadaash journalists. xitter.cf/repmcgovern/status/210…
Egypt arrested an entire independent newsroom simply for doing their jobs.
Journalism is not a crime, and this attack on press freedom cannot stand. The six Matsadaash journalists must be released immediately.
My full statement:
mcgovern.house.gov/news/docu…
