A judge lifted on Saturday the one-year-old preventative probationary measures on four members of the Egyptian satirical performance troupe Atfal El-Shawaree (Street Children), their lawyer Amr Mohamed told Ahram Online on Sunday. The four defendants were arrested in May 2016 on charges of "inciting protests that aim to disrupt peace and security and provoke violent crimes against state institutions." Mohamed said that the prosecution's investigation into the band members was suspended last year, but the case was not officially closed. The five-member group first gained popularity in 2016 for videos they posted online that mock societal norms and government policies. In September 2016, the prosecution released the four on preventative probationary measures pending further investigation. The probationary measures required the four to check in at police stations twice a week for two hours each time. Local and international rights groups had called on Egypt's government to release the members of the group and drop the case against them.
