Egypt court again postpones verdict in Jazeera reporters' retrial

An Egyptian court on August 2 postponed for a second time its verdict in the retrial of three Al Jazeera journalists, rescheduling it for August 29 in a move the defendants called an insult.

The court had already put off its much anticipated verdict July 30 because the presiding judge Hassan Farid was reportedly ill.
 
Another judge at August 2 hearing said the verdict was being delayed again because other defendants in the trial could not be brought to the court room from their cells.
 
"The accused are not present for security reasons, so the court decided to postpone the verdict to August 29," said judge Ahmed Yousry.
 
Australian Peter Greste, Canadian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohamed were jailed last year for "spreading false news" that supported the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood during their coverage of the turmoil after the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
 
Fahmy, Baher and several other defendants in the trial were released on bail at the start of the retrial early this year, but at least three other defendants have been jailed in separate cases.
 
"Verdict postponed until August 29th The audacity & continuous disrespect to our rights is unprecedented!" Fahmy tweeted minutes after the judge postponed the verdict.
 
Defence lawyer Shaaban Said said there was no political reason for postponing the verdict.
 
"The (presiding) judge is ill and he can not come. Legally the verdict can not be delivered by a new judge," he said.
         
Producer Mohamed said the postponing of the verdict was yet another insult to the three journalists.
 
"It's really annoying that my life is still on hold... It will be another month of suffering,"...