Egypt court delays verdict in Jazeera journalists' trial

An Egyptian court has postponed its verdict in the retrial of two Al Jazeera TV journalists charged with “broadcasting false news” to August 2, a judicial source said Thursday.

Mohamed Fahmy, a Canadian national who has given up his Egyptian citizenship, and Egyptian citizen Baher Mohamed were both earlier convicted of “broadcasting false news” and “threatening Egypt’s national security.”

A third Al Jazeera journalist, Australian Peter Greste, who had faced the same raft of charges, was deported in January.

In February, an Egyptian court ordered the three reporters’ retrial.

The trio was originally detained in 2013 at a Cairo hotel only days after Egyptian authorities branded the Muslim Brotherhood – the group from which former President Mohamed Morsi hails – a “terrorist” organization.

The court was scheduled to deliver its verdict on July 30, but delayed it amid reports that the judge has fallen ill.

Several western governments and rights groups had called for the journalists’ release amid an international solidarity campaign launched by Al Jazeera.

The Egyptian government accuses Qatar-based Al Jazeera of harboring bias in favor of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood group – an allegation the channel denies.

Relations between Cairo and Doha have been tense over the latter’s criticisms of Morsi’s 2013 ouster in a military coup.