Egyptian newspaper probed over its election coverage

CAIRO – 29 March 2018: Egypt’s Attorney General Nabil Sadek launched on Thursday an investigation with Egyptian independent newspaper of al-Masry al-Youm over accusations of “insulting the state’s institutions” during its coverage of the 2018 presidential election.

In the main headline on the front page in the first Thursday edition, Al-Masry al-Youm wrote “the state is amassing voters on final day of poll”. Lawyer Samir Sabry has filed a lawsuit before the general prosecution against the newspaper and editor-in-chief Mohamed al-Sayed Saleh over its headline, accusing it of “insulting Egypt and the state’s institutions.”


Al-Masry al-Youm\s front page of the first edition on Thursday- Egypt Today

In the newspaper’s second edition, the main headline was changed into “Sisi sweeps election against Moussa due to preliminary results”.


Al-Masry al-Youm\s front page of the second edition on Thursday- Egypt Today

According to the preliminary results, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi attained a landslide election victory against el-Ghad Party candidate Moussa Moustafa Moussa.

Initial figures showed that 21,088,295 voted for Sisi in polling stations across Egypt, excluding several stations in Cairo and Giza; Moussa on the other hand gathered 682,797 votes.