Satire leads Egypt youth troupe to prison
The Egyptian authorities seem to be taking a break from fighting terrorism to zealously track down young entertainers.
They weren’t planting bombs, attacking people or even defacing public property, but the members of an Egyptian troupe called Street Children have been detained and investigated for allegedly inciting protests and spreading “terrorist [ideas] that insult the president.”
The troupe released a satirical music video May 2 in which they called on President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to leave office. The decision to detain the young men has raised a great deal of controversy and angered many, both among the president’s opponents as well as media figures supportive of him, while others welcomed the move.
The six members of the Street Children troupe appear in selfie-style videos that feature both satirical and critical content — sometimes in the form of music videos, other times in the form of acting performances. Among the topics they have addressed are the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and how the international film industry portrays Egypt, which was the subject of two videos: “Egypt in Hollywood” and “Commercial announcements.”
The troupe has been subjected to security restrictions at many of their shows, but the apparent reason for their detentions were two video clips — “Sisi is my president” and “Ubdah al-bayada” (in reference to a staunch army supporter) — criticizing Sisi.
