CAIRO: Egypt's public prosecution ordered Thursday the release of staff from a leading human rights organisation, a judicial and security source said, following a concerted international campaign to free them.

Last month authorities arrested three staff members from the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights on charges of "joining a terror group" and "spreading false news" after a public meeting with foreign ambassadors on November 3.

Executive director Gasser Abdel-Razek, senior researcher Karim Ennarah and office manager Mohamed Basheer - all detained within the same week but days apart - had been kept in pre-trial detention.

"After the submission of the necessary legal paperwork of registering the group as a non-profit organisation, the public prosecution has ordered the release of Gasser Abdel-Razek and members of the Initiative," said a brief statement sent to AFP by a security and judicial source.