CAIRO, May 9 (Aswat Masriya) – Prosecution challenged on Monday a decision to release a member of the Atfal al-Shawarei (Arabic for "street children"), a group of young theatre artists who film sarcastic videos in the streets.

Atfal al-Shawarei member Ezzeddin Khaled Mohamed, who was arrested on Saturday, was ordered to be detained for four days on accusations of insulting the president and publishing videos deemed offensive to state institutions.

He was ordered to be released on bail EGP 10,000 on Monday. 

A court will look into the prosecution's appeal against the release decision on Tuesday.

Mohamed's arrest came days after the group published a video on Thursday poking fun at the Egyptian ruling authorities and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The video has reached over 400,000 views and received 14,000 likes on Facebook so far.

Egyptian law fines those convicted of "insulting the president" with up to EGP 30,000 (around $3,379).

The video that may have caused Mohamed’s arrest features the group mocking President al-Sisi and his supporters and jokingly asking journalists to “behave” in reference to a row that has raged between the Press Syndicate and the Ministry of Interior in the past week.

Security forces raided the syndicate's headquarters and arrested two journalists on the first of May. What followed was a series of escalatory measures led by the syndicate, which demanded a presidential apology and the dismissal of the interior minister.

The ministry denied using violence or violating the law in its raid on the building, saying that an arrest warrant had been issued for the two journalists over accusations of "inciting protests".

In the past weeks, Sisi has been subjected to an unprecedented wave of criticism, especially amid anger from the journalists' union at the interior ministry - and also after Sisi decided in April to transfer control over two strategic Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.

Critics have accused Sisi of “selling Egyptian land” in return for Saudi aid and took to the streets in rare protests on April 15 and April 25.

On their part, Egyptian authorities launched a campaign of mass arrests targeting youth who took part in the protests.

Most recently, a court decided to issue the verdict on May 14 for 51 detainees who had been arrested for protesting.

Since the military ouster of former president Mohamed Mursi in July 2013 following mass protests against his rule, Egyptian authorities have launched a crackdown on critics and imposed restrictions on street demonstrations.

The U.S.-based watchdog Human Rights Watch says Egypt “remains in a human rights crisis” under Sisi.