The retrial of fifty young Egyptian men accused of practicing homosexuality will resume on July 27th, a judge said Tuesday, after he caused a trial delay by excusing himself from the controversial case.
Judge Mohamed Abdel Karim told reporters the retrial would resume on that date before the Abdine criminal court of Cairo under Judge Hassan al-Sayess.
Karim asked to be excused when the retrial opened on July 2 because he had already judged the accused in their first trial before a State Security court, AFP reported.
The state security court last November sentenced 21 of the men to between one and two years behind bars, and acquitted the 29 others. However, President Hosni Mubarak in May ordered their retrial, saying the case did not fall under the jurisdiction of the state security court. (Albawaba.com)
