HRW calls on Egypt to free satirical street performers

Human Rights Watch has called on Egypt's government to release four detained members of a satirical street group whose online video clips mocked the country's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Five of the group's six members were detained last month, but one was later released on bail. The sixth member is in hiding.

The five, according to their lawyer, are accused of using social media networks to insult state institutions and inciting protests and the overthrow of the regime.

If convicted, they face up to 10 years in prison and a $1,000 fine.

"This kind of blanket repression leaves young people with few outlets to express themselves or joke about their daily hardships," Nadim Houry of the New York-based rights advocacy group said in a statement.

"Egypt's youth have been a driving force for change since the 2011 uprising. Upholding human rights and free speech is the best way for Sisi to begin to repair the government's relationship with them."

Sisi's government has eroded many of the freedoms won by the uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak. It responds to criticism of its human rights record by insisting it must strike a balance between stability and freedoms.

The six-member group, Atfal Shawarea, or "Street Children," has a large social media following. It shoots selfie-style clips on the streets that deal mostly with social and political issues.

Some of the group's recent work has directly mocked Sisi. One video was entitled "Sisi, my president, made things worse," while another clip mocked his habit of ending speeches with "Long live Egypt!" An entire clip was devoted to criticising the government's intention to surrender control of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.

This kind of blanket repression leaves young people with few outlets to express themselves or joke about their daily hardships. - Nadim Houry

"There is no evidence to support any of the accusations they face," said the lawyer, Mahmoud Othman, on Thursday.

"Have we reached the stage where the government is so scared and weak that it's prepared to jail young men for a satirical video?" he added.

"They have no political affiliations of any kind. The government in this case is essentially seeking to erode their creative."

On Tuesday, a court rejected as "unconstitutional" the Saudi-Egyptian accord and said the islands of Tiran and Sanafir were unquestionably Egyptian.

The government, which is appealing the verdict, insists that signing the April agreement was an act of sovereignty that the court had no jurisdiction over.

The court said the extent to which a government exercises "sovereign" rights reflects its commitment or lack thereof to democratic values. It also criticised the handling of the case by government lawyers, saying they refused to argue the substance of the case and not presenting any documents in defence of the agreement.

The agreement sparked the largest anti-government protests since Sisi took office in 2014. Authorities responded by arresting hundreds of protesters and activists, but most were later acquitted, released on bail or fined after brief trials.