The Rennes trial of seven men for armed robbery was to start Sept. 16 until the court's recent agreement to a requested delay until January -- after the Muslim holy month, the BBC reported Sunday.

An attorney for one of the accused men had argued that beginning the trial when originally scheduled meant his client would have been fasting for two weeks and thus too physically weak to defend himself properly.

But figures from across the French political landscape are now criticizing the court's move.

Fadela Amara, a Muslim and France's minister for urban affairs, described the delay as a "knife wound" in the principle of a secular republic

Far right leader Jean-Marie le Pen said France's justice system has reached a new low.