A Cairo court has acquitted five minors held in detention for nearly a month on charges of attacking security forces and being members of a terrorist organisation, a reference to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood,

The five detainees – Amr Zenihom, 15; Mohamed Khaled, 17; Amr Mahmoud, 16; and Israa Henfy and Maged Saleh, both 14 – were arrested on 25 January in the southern Cairo district of Maadi during demonstrations marking the third anniversary of the January 2011 uprising.

The prosecution has appealed against Sunday's court ruling.

Twenty adults arrested during the same Maadi protest are slated to stand trial 5 March.

According to the Egyptian Coalition for Children's Rights, at least 233 minors were arrested during clashes on 25 January in Cairo and Alexandria.