Zawahiri brother asks for prison release

CAIRO, July 12 (UPI) -- Lawyers for the brother of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri asked for his release after an Egyptian court postponed his trial until the end of July.

Mohamed al-Zawahiri, brother of al-Qaida's leader, announced in May that he filed an appeal against his death sentence by a military court in Egypt.

Zawahiri was sentenced to death following extradition from the United Arab Emirates to Egypt in 1999. He announced from prison that he was asking for an appeal in the hopes of being retried, complaining he was sentenced in absentia.

He claimed he was treated "in a brutal manner" by members of the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak.

The defense team said Zawahiri should be released because there is no justification to keep him in custody while he awaits a July 31 hearing, Egyptian news agency Al-Masry Al-Youm reports.

Zawahiri and three co-defendants said charges of conspiracy and attempts to topple the government are unfounded.

Ayman al-Zawahiri ascended to the top of the al-Qaida hierarchy after U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden in a May 2 raid in Pakistan.