Five Egyptian satirists have been arrested for publishing videos online criticizing President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The members of the Awlad el-Shawarea (Street Children) protest group, all ranging in age from 19-25, were arrested over the week on charges of “insulting state institutions” and “inciting protests,” with four of the five also facing charges of “inciting terrorism.” These charges stem from a series of “selfie protests” videos in which the group sang songs criticizing Sisi and mocked his speeches.

Awlad el-Shawarea (English: The Street Children) are known for their selfie protests, videos in which songs and sarcasm poke fun at President Sisi. (YouTube)

The first arrest was that of Ezzedeen Khaled, taken from his home one week ago by Egyptian authorities. In the following days Mohamed Adel, Mohamed al-Souri, Mohamed Gabr, and Mohamed Yehia were also arrested, according to the group’s lawyer Mohamed Othman. Authorities reportedly breached the homes of the other four men concomitant with Khaled’s arrest, but found them to be elsewhere.

The sixth member of the group, Mohammed Zein, has not been detained.

The lawyer reported that all five satirists have been charged with “insulting state institutions” and “inciting protests.” Adel, al-Souri, Gabr, and Yehia have also been charged with “inciting terrorism.”

All of the charges are relating to videos posted by the group to their YouTube and Facebook pages, in which they criticize President Sisi’s regime, often in song or sarcastic reproductions of his speeches.

The last video posted by the group before the arrests is below:

Protesters throughout Egypt have taken up the cause of the arrested satirists, including Bassem Youssef, called “the Egyptian Jon Stewart” and listed as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in 2013. Youssef, who Stewart called his hero, uploaded a video to the group’s YouTube account demanding the group’s freedom and expressing solidarity with his five fellow satirists.

Other protestors have advocated for the Street Children’s release by taking photos of themselves, faces obscured by smartphones, asking, “Sisi, are you afraid of my camera phone?” Others simply carry the message “Freedom for the Street Children!”

Egyptians are calling for the Street Children’s freedom with their smartphones, citing Sisi’s apparent fear of them. (Awlad al-Shawarea)

The youth group has also been active in Egypt’s street art movement, which has been increasingly censored since the 2013 military coup.

The Street Children’s political activism is born out of the Arab Spring and denounces autocratic rule of both Islamists and the military dictatorship. The group has been a voice of this often-silenced group of Egyptians, with their selfie protests tackling social and political issues, and always calling for the democracy Egyptians hoped for in the 2011 movement.

Most recently, the group condemned the Sisi’s transfer of two Red Sea islands to Saudi control in return for an aid package. At the time of posting, 51 of 300 arrested protestors were each sentenced to two years in prison for demonstrating against the transfer last month.

While criticism of the Sisi regime’s human rights record has come from countless organizations, increasingly so after the arrest of the five artists, the president has claimed that Egypt cannot be judged on a western standard.

It is currently unknown whether the satirists will see their charges carried through, as the group’s lawyer Mohamed Othman has echoed the general uncertainty surrounding freedom of expression in Egypt today. Article 67 of Egypt’s 2014 constitution guarantees artistic freedom, but Othman told The Guardian that, “The prosecution, regrettably, does not see their clips as creative work protected by the constitution.”

The five activists are currently being held at a police station in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis.