CAIRO: Three Egyptian news editors from local news outlet Mada Masr have been referred for prosecution after police in civvies raided its office on Sunday, the site said.

“We have just got our phones and laptops back. Security forces left. Lina Attalah, Mohamed Hamama and Rana Mamdouh have been taken to the prosecution service, according to one of the men who entered our offices,” the independent news site said.

It posted on social media that nine plain-clothed officers questioned the journalists on site for several hours, demanding that they unlock their phones and laptops and hand them over.

The whereabouts of the three who were detained is not yet known.

Sunday’s raid came at around 1:30pm, a day after Shady Zalat, 37, a news editor who has worked at the prominent website since 2014, was arrested at his home.

The news website’s Twitter feed said Zalat was released later on Sunday at around 5:30pm.

Mada Masr publishes investigations into corruption and security issues in both Arabic and English.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2019