EGYPT ARRESTS SATIRICAL PERFORMANCE ARTISTS FOR MOCKING THE PRESIDENT
Five members of the Egyptian performance art group Street Children (Awlad el-Shawarea) have been arrested in Cairo for releasing a video online that mocks president Abdel Fattah el- Sisi and his followers, Anny Shaw of the Art Newspaper reports.
Mohammed Adel, Mohammed Dessouki, Mohammed Yahya, and Mohammed Gabr have been accused of inciting terror attacks and street protests as well as offending state institutions. Ezzedeen Khaled was also arrested, but is being detained separately, and is only facing charges of insulting state instiutions and inciting protests. The group has a sixth member who has not been detained.
Street Children has a substantial following on social media and is known for posting videos that make fun of how the president makes references to former advice his mother has given him, including “never to covet what belongs to others.” The group also likes to mock his signature ending to speeches: “Long Live Egypt!” The arrests of the artists, all aged between nineteen and twenty-five, are the latest in a slew of government censorships.
