"Run by a fugitive brother".. A statement from Egypt's Interior Ministry regarding the arrest of 6 journalists from the "Motsadaksh" platform and the page's response

- The Egyptian Ministry of Interior issued a statement on Thursday discussing the arrest of 6 journalists from the news platform "Matdakhlish" online, accusing the platform of "broadcasting false news and distorting facts," adding that the platform operates "within the media committees of the Muslim Brotherhood." The Egyptian Ministry of Interior stated in a statement published on its official account on the platform "X" (formerly Twitter): "As part of monitoring the schemes of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood aimed at undermining the stability enjoyed by the country through fabricating lies and spreading rumors, a page was detected on the internet titled (Matdakhlish) that is unlicensed and managed from abroad, broadcasting false news and distorting facts. It was found upon examination that the mentioned page is part of the media committees of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood, managed by the fugitive Brotherhood member abroad, Abdulrahman Shukri Abdeljalil Mansour, with the assistance of several Brotherhood elements in the country, who prepare these false and fabricated news and send them to the aforementioned individual for publication on the mentioned page, in exchange for financial funding they receive from abroad," according to the ministry's statement.

The Egyptian Ministry of Interior added that "procedures were regulated and 6 members of the mentioned media committee were arrested, one of whom is registered with the Journalists' Syndicate while the others are not registered with the syndicate. At the time, the head of the Journalists' Syndicate was informed about the arrest of the mentioned journalist and the background of his arrest, and legal actions were taken." In response to the statement from the Egyptian Ministry of Interior, the platform "Matdakhlish" denied in a post on its official Facebook page on Thursday that it is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood or that it is managed from abroad, or that the page is run by the fugitive Brotherhood member Abdulrahman Mansour.

The platform clarified in the statement: "No journalist at 'Matdakhlish' belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood, nor is there any connection between any journalist working at 'Matdakhlish' and any political organization inside or outside Egypt," stating that what it described as the "claim" mentioned in the Ministry of Interior's statement is "not true." The platform stated: "Over the past 8 years, 'Matdakhlish' has published hundreds of corrections and verifications of statements and false news promoted by entities and individuals associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as debunked hundreds of rumors published by media outlets broadcasting from outside Egypt."

The Egyptian Journalists' Syndicate announced on Wednesday that it has filed a complaint with the Ministry of Interior and a report to the Egyptian Public Prosecutor, demanding the release of 6 journalists who make up the editorial team of the "Motsadaksh" platform for fact-checking in Egypt. This came after the "Motsadaksh" platform announced earlier on Wednesday the detention of "the entire editorial team in its newsroom," considering what happened as "an unprecedented development for the platform, raising serious questions about the nature of the actions taken against an entire newsroom and its journalists, without any clear announcement so far regarding the reasons for this escalation or its legal basis."