CAIRO: The Cairo criminal court ordered on Wednesday the release of 42 students affiliated with the opposition Muslim Brotherhood held since December, a security source said.
The court ruled that the justification for the provisional detention had ended, opening the way for students to be freed.
Despite a similar court order for the release of 16 leading members of the banned Islamist movement on Monday, authorities have kept the men in custody.
The students were detained after they took part in a military-style parade on the campus of Al-Azhar University in December, prompting a wide-ranging crackdown on the movement amid accusations it was forming its own militia.
According to Brotherhood lawyers, 165 members of the group have been accused over the incident, more than 100 of them students.
On Sunday, the government froze the assets of 29 leading Brotherhood members and their families.
Egyptian authorities accuse the movement, which controls a fifth of the seats in parliament, of seeking to revive its underground military wing and eventually topple the regime.
