An order was given for the release of four members of the online satirical troupe Atfal al-Shawarea on Wednesday, replacing their detention with cautionary measures that are yet to be revealed, lawyer Ahmed Othman told Mada Masr.
Atfal al-Shawarea (Street Children) members appealed the latest renewal of their detention, which was announced Monday.
The prosecution said the "precautionary measures" would be announced within hours, Othman told Mada Masr, speculating that they could be travel bans, house arrest or daily check-ins at a police station.
The four members of the online satirical group were arrested in May 2016 after their camera-phone videos, shot on the streets of Cairo, garnered over 300,000 followers. Their youngest member, 19-year-old art student Ezz Eddin Khaled, was the first to be arrested from his house on May 8, but he was released shortly afterwards due to lack of evidence against him.
The four members of the group currently in detention were charged with insulting state institutions and inciting protests in online material.
In their latest video, released days before their arrest, the troupe mocked the crackdown on protests held against the transfer of Tiran and Sanafir islands to Saudi Arabia, declaring that the "revolution continues." In earlier videos they had engaged more in social satire.
Human Rights Watch called for the release of Atfal al-Shawarea in a June statement, referring to their detention as a violation of the right to free speech.
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It started on the internet but may end in the street, which the regime thinks it can totally control — just like it thinks Atfal al-Shawarea threatens its existence.
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