Egypt accepts retrial for Qaeda chief's brother

An Egyptian military court on Tuesday accepted a retrial for Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri's brother, who had been condemned to death in absentia on terror-related charges, a military source said. In March, Egyptian authorities had rearrested Mohammed al-Zawahiri just days after he was freed under an amnesty for political prisoners. He had been one of dozens of political prisoners released by the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces which took power after president Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February. Officials have not given a reason for his rearrest. Zawahiri had been in jail since 1999 when he was transferred into Egyptian custody by the United Arab Emirates after his arrest there. An Egyptian court handed down a death sentence against him in his absence in 1998 on charges of undergoing military training in Albania and "planning military operations" in Egypt. Earlier this month, Al-Qaeda named Ayman al-Zawahiri, Mohammed's elder brother, to succeed its slain leader Osama bin Laden, killed by US forces in Pakistan on May 2.