CAIRO: Egyptian security forces detained prominent Egyptian journalist Lina Attalah, the chief editor of leading independent news website Mada Masr, after her trial hearing on Tuesday, her outlet reported.

A court fined Attalah three million Egyptian pounds (around $53,400) for operating the website without a licence, the maximum possible penalty for the misdemeanour she was charged with, andordered Mada`s closure.

`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,` said the independent media, which says it has not received a response from authorities about its licence application since 2023. Her trial marks what rights groups have described as a sharp escalation in Cairo`scrackdown on press freedom.

It comes weeks after the high-profile arrest of an entire fact-checking newsroom, on charges of fake news, which are frequently levelled against media seen to be critical of the government.

Hossam Bahgat, head of prominent rights group the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), was present at the court and gave AFP an account of events.-AFP