High profile trials suspended in Egypt

A series of high profile trials were supended this week in Egypt, during a busy and controversial period for the country's judiciary.

An Egyptian court on Saturday adjourned to May 12 the trial of former president Hosni Mubarak, his interior minister and six top security officials accused of killing demonstrators during Egypt's 2011 uprising, a judicial source said.

The defendants are charged with inciting the murder of hundreds of anti-regime protesters during the uprising, which ended Mubarak's 30-year rule.

Mubarak, his two sons and Egyptian business tycoon Hussein Salem also face charges of financial corruption, abuse of power, profiteering and selling Egyptian natural gas to Israel at below-market prices.

In late 2012, Mubarak and long-serving interior minister Habib al-Adly were sentenced to 25 years in prison each for ordering the murder of anti-government demonstrators during the 2011 uprising.

The court later ordered a retrial, however, after the former president's lawyers successfully appealed the jail sentence.

Al-Jazeera "terror" sponsorship

On Saturday an Egyptian court adjourned until May 24 its ruling on an appeal against an earlier verdict to turn down a lawsuit calling on the government to label Al-Jazeera news channel as a sponsor of terrorism, a judicial source said.

The Cairo court of urgent matters postponed its ruling on the appeal against an earlier decision to reject the case, so that the lawyer of the Qatar-owned channel can have the chance to submit relevant documents, the source said.

Last month, the court rejected the lawsuit, saying it has no jurisdiction to rule in the case.

Lawyer Samir Sabri, who has filed a string of lawsuits targeting ousted president Mohamed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group, filed the lawsuit, accusing Al-Jazeera of sponsoring terrorism.

Egypt's military-backed government has repeatedly accused The Qatar-funded Al-Jazeera channel of harboring bias in favor of the ousted president and his supporters – allegations the network rejects.

Relations between Cairo and Doha have soured dramatically since last July, when the army ousted Morsi – Egypt's first freely elected leader – on the back of demonstrations against his presidency.

Following Morsi's ouster and subsequent imprisonment, a number of his supporters fled to Qatar amid a heavy-handed crackdown on dissent by Egypt's army-backed interim authorities.

Activists trials suspended

Finally, the trial was suspended of activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah and 24 others charged with assault and staging unauthorized protests to consider a request for new judges, a judicial source said.

The activist's defense team has asked the trial judge to recuse himself because of the presence of disputes between the trial's presiding judge Mohamed Ali al-Fiqi and the defendant and his lawyer.

The Cairo Cassation Court is expected to look into the request on May 17, according to Abdel Fattah's father, Ahmed Seif al-Islam.

Abdel-Fattah, a figurehead of the opposition against former presidents Hosni Mubarak and Mohamed Morsi, and the 24 others are being tried on charges of assaulting policemen and staging an unlicensed protest.

The demonstration was staged in November to decry Egypt's longstanding practice of trying civilians before military courts and a new protest law that requires police permission before staging a protest.

According to the law, violators will either be fined or imprisoned – penalties that have provoked outrage on the part of many Egyptian politicians and activists who say the legislation curbs freedoms and gives police free rein to crack down on popular expressions of dissent.