A Cairo criminal court accepted on Wednesday an appeal by four members of satirical performance troupe Atfal Shawaree (Street Children) against their continued detention pending investigation into charges of "publishing videos insulting the state and attempting to overthrow the regime." The defendants, who were arrested in May, are also being investigated for allegedly "inciting protests that aim to disrupt peace and security and cause violent crimes against state institutions," charges that they deny. A fifth member of the group, Ezz El-Din Khaled, was also arrested in May and later released on bail pending investigations. The sixth member is being investigated but has not been arrested. The group first gained popularity earlier this year for videos they published online that mock societal norms as well as the discourse of the regime and its supporters. Local and international rights groups have repeatedly called on Egypt's government to release the members of the group and drop the case against them. The troupe's last satirical video is titled “El-Sisi is my president.”
