Recusal ruling in Mubarak case postponed to next month

Cairo appeals court postpones decision on last week's request by civil-claims lawyers to replace presiding judge in Mubarak case

@font-face {
font-family: "Times";
}@font-face {
font-family: "ＭＳ 明朝";
}@font-face {
font-family: "Cambria Math";
}@font-face {
font-family: "Cambria";
}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria; }p { margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Times; }.MsoChpDefault { font-family: Cambria; }div.WordSection1 { page: WordSection1; }
A Cairo appeals court on Tuesday postponed its ruling on a request by lawyers to replace the presiding judge in the trial of ousted president Hosni Mubarak until 22 October.
According to reports in the Arabic-language media, the decision was taken in order to give the court time to view earlier court sessions featuring Mubarak that had aired on state television.
Last week, civil-claims lawyers representing the families of protesters killed and injured during Egypt's recent revolution asked the court to replace presiding judge Ahmed Refaat due to an alleged bias towards Mubarak and his alleged mistreatment of lawyers for the prosecution.
According to lawyers, a bodyguard for Field-Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of Egypt's ruling military council, assaulted civil-claims lawyer Mohamed Abdel Maksoud on Saturday after Tantawi delivered court testimony. Judge Refaat, say lawyers, failed to document the incident.
The Egyptian penal code states that if the presiding judge in a case is replaced, the trial must begin again from scratch.
Following the lawyers' motion for recusal, Refaat adjourned trial proceedings until 30 October.