A Cairo court on Tuesday convicted Lina Attalah, editor of the news site Mada Masr, of running a website without a license. The BBC and Al Manassa reported the verdict. The New Cairo Misdemeanors Court fined her 3 million Egyptian pounds, about $53,500. That is the top fine on the charge. The court ordered Mada Masr closed. It also ordered the site's property seized. Attalah is to stay in custody until the fine is paid, the BBC and Al Manassa reported.

Judge Mohammed Mubarak cleared most people from the room. Al Manassa said he barred European Union staff and envoys from Germany, France, Britain, Canada and other states. The BBC said he kept Attalah, her defense team and Hossam Bahgat of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights inside. The judge denied defense bids to delay the case, review files and call witnesses. He then named a Lawyers' Syndicate lawyer for Attalah over her protest. He would not put her objection in the record, the BBC and Al Manassa reported. Bahgat said the judge wrote motions for that lawyer before the lawyer spoke, the BBC reported. Guards then held Attalah. Al Manassa said they lifted her and carried her out.

Her lawyer Hassan Al-Azhari said the defense will appeal after the fine is paid. He said an appeal would pause enforcement if the full fine is paid, Al Manassa reported. The court said it would take half the fine that day and the rest later, Al Manassa said. Attalah was still held pending payment when the reports ran.

Mada Masr began in 2013. It is often called one of Egypt's last free newsrooms. The site has sought a license from the Supreme Media Regulatory Council since a 2018 media law took effect. Bids were turned down or left without an answer, the BBC reported, citing the Committee to Protect Journalists. In court, Attalah said she had applied and never got a reply, Al Manassa reported. Prosecutors sent her to trial last week after long questioning. A separate false-news claim was not part of Tuesday's case.

Egypt is among the top jailers of journalists, with 25 now behind bars, the BBC reported, citing CPJ. Rights groups say President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has run a wide crackdown on dissent since 2013. Amnesty International called the verdict a crushing blow to press freedom, the BBC reported.

What we know: Attalah was convicted, fined the top amount, ordered held until payment, and Mada Masr was ordered closed with its property seized.
What we don't: Whether the fine has been paid, whether an appeal has been filed, or whether the site stays offline.