The trial of 20 Al-Jazeera journalists of accused of broadcasting false news and images on the Qatari Al Jazeera English satellite channel was postponed to 1 April for a technical committee to view the video recordings.
The court allowed relatives of the defendants to visit them in their detention facility and ordered a medical examination of two defendants who are injured.
Among the journalists are four foreign reporters: two Britons, an Australian and a Dutchman.
According to the prosecution papers, the defendants were part of a media network “that has specialized in creating video scenes contrary to reality and airing them through Qatari AJE and US CNN to distort Egypt’s international and reputation.”
The charges are based on the government's declaration last month of the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. Authorities have long considered the Doha-based Al Jazeera network, which was highly acclaimed during 25 January revolution, as biased towards Islamists including deposed President Mohamed Morsy and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Al Jazeera's Cairo offices have been closed down since 3 July, after being raided by security forces in the immediate aftermath of the ouster of Morsy.
The Al Jazeera network has described the allegations against Australian Peter Greste, Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohamed, who were detained in their Cairo hotel on 29 December, as “absurd, baseless and false.”
In the new politically-polarized, post-Morsy Egypt, political figures and meda reports have shown little sympathy for the journalists, often describing the individuals as “terrorists” from the Muslim Brotherhood.
