Court renews detention for ‘Street Children’ theatre group

Saturday 02-07-2016 05:18 PM

Members of Street Children group. Photo from the group's Facebook page

CAIRO, Jul 2 (Aswat Masriya) - A North Cairo Court decided on Saturday to renew the detention of the group young theatre artists, “Street Children” (Atfal al-Shawarei in Arabic) for 15 days pending investigation.

The group, which consists of six young men, is charged with publishing false news and inciting protests, and publishing videos that “insult” state institutions and the president. 

This is the fifth time their detention is renewed since they were arrested last May.  

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

Most of the members were arrested after the group published a video on their Facebook page poking fun at the Egyptian ruling authorities and president. 

The video received at least 12,000 Facebook “likes” and 327,000 views. 

“We are youth who work at the theatre. We have decided to film our videos in the streets with crazy ideas. You will find us everywhere around you. Even if your day is busy and swamped, the street is full of laughter”: This is how the group describe themselves on Facebook. 

The video features the group mocking President Abdel Fattah 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 weeks. 

 

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