The head of the National Council for Human Rights, Ahmed Ihab Gamal El-Din, on Wednesday 4 November 2026 received a delegation from the Journalists Syndicate headed by Syndicate head Khaled Elbalshy, with Syndicate council members Mohamed Saad Abdel Hafeez and Iman Awf, to discuss the status of news websites seeking to regularize their situation and press freedom files. The meeting was attended by the council’s deputy head Mohamed Anwar Sadat, the head of the council’s media committee Ezzat Ibrahim, and committee members Gamal El-Keshky and Mohamed Osman.
Sadat said the National Council for Human Rights, the Journalists Syndicate and the Supreme Council for Media Regulation agreed to form a joint working group, and that the council is in contact with several bodies including the Public Prosecutor’s office, and is discussing proposing a freedom of information law and a ban on pretrial detention in publishing cases. He added that the head of the Supreme Council for Media Regulation, Khaled Abdel Aziz, showed “understanding” on the licensing file during a meeting between them on Monday 2 November, and that there are efforts to allow blocked websites to operate if they submit their papers and meet the requirements.
The Syndicate, according to Elbalshy, demanded a fair and transparent licensing system in which applicants are informed of missing documents, and he described administrative blocking as “a threat to journalists”, and demanded that visits to jailed journalists be allowed, saying the Syndicate’s requests to visit them had received no reply. Syndicate council member Mohamed Saad Abdel Hafeez said the National Council promised to contact the relevant bodies, according to his statements.
The meeting comes days after the New Cairo Misdemeanor Court ruled on 27 October to fine Mada Masr editor-in-chief Lina Attalah 3 million pounds and close the website, and after the arrest of six staff members of the Matsda2sh platform on 28 and 29 September, while several news websites submitted licensing applications years ago without a reply.
