CAIRO, Oct 6, 2026 (GM/NET) : Egypt on Tuesday denied allegations that detained journalists from an independent fact-checking platform were tortured or mistreated, dismissing the claims as “baseless”.
The denial came after lawyers for the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), a rights group representing the six journalists arrested last week, said they had reported abuse while in detention.
The journalists make up the entire newsroom of Matsadaash, a platform known for fact-checking and investigative reporting.
Authorities accuse them of links to the banned Muslim Brotherhood, “publishing false news” and operating without a licence.
EIPR said most of the journalists told prosecutors they had suffered “various forms of torture and mistreatment”, including beatings, electric shocks, forced stripping and threats against them and their families.
In a statement, the Interior Ministry dismissed the allegations as “an attempt by those concerned to evade the charges attributed to them”.
“We are very concerned. The journalists were subjected to severe torture,” EIPR advocacy director Lobna Darwish told AFP on Monday.
She said the journalists’ whereabouts were unknown for five days.
“They were forced to record fabricated and false confessions on camera, reading from scripts that had been handed to them,” Darwish said.
AFP could not independently verify the claims.
Matsadaash, whose name means “Don’t Believe It” in Arabic, has been verifying news and fact-checking claims since 2018, often scrutinising statements from government officials and state institutions.
It rejected the accusations against its reporters, saying it has also challenged what it described as “misleading” claims by figures and groups affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Dozens of journalists staged a sit-in in Cairo on Saturday demanding the reporters’ release.
More than 80 regional and international organisations, including Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists, have condemned the arrests and called for the journalists’ immediate release.
Egypt has long faced criticism from press freedom groups over restrictions on media activity.
According to EIPR, the latest arrests bring the number of journalists currently detained in connection with their work in Egypt to 26.
