The Cairo Appeals Court on Saturday postponed its decision on a request to replace the judges handling the trial of former President Hosni Mubarak until 26 December.
Mubarak, along with his two sons, former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly and six security officials, face charges related to killing hundreds of protesters during the January uprising that ended his rule in February.
The plaintiffs' lawyers filed a lawsuit demanding that the body of judges handling the trial be replaced.
Counsel Mostafa Hussein said the case was postponed until the judge considering the case obtains information on the non-judicial consultancy positions the presiding judge, Ahmed Refaat, has been involved in.
The plaintiffs' lawyers said that Refaat had been formerly commissioned to work at the presidential palace in a legal advisory post, which makes him ineligible to consider the case.
The lawyers also said that the judges did not give them enough time to question key witnesses.
Abdel Aziz Amer, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told Al-Masry Al-Youm last month that “We [the plaintiffs' lawyers] have reached the conclusion that Judge Ahmed Refaat is overseeing the case in an arbitrary manner. He is putting obstacles before us."
Last month, Egypt’s de facto ruler, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, testified in the trial under a media blackout, and, according to the plaintiffs' lawyers, under security measures that prevented the majority of them entering the courtroom.
They said they were prevented from questioning Tantawi, who was Mubarak's defense minister for two decades.
Lawyers said Amer distributed outside the courtroom a copy of a decision issued by Mubarak in 2004 granting Essam Eddin Refaat, editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram Economic Magazine, certain exemptions. Amer said this Refaat is the brother Ahmed Refaat.
