[JURIST] A trial began Saturday for 14 Egyptians charged with helping the men who carried out two bombings in the city of Cairo [Wikipedia backgrounder] in April 2005 that left 10 people and the two bombers dead. Tourists appeared to be the targets and an American and two French citizens were among the dead. The defendants face various charges including assisting the bombers financially, gathering ingredients to build the explosives, and legitimizing rebellion against the government. The 14 suspects, including two women and three boys under the age of eighteen, all maintain they are innocent. Lawyers for the charged individuals claim that many of them have been tortured by state security officials to obtain false confessions and have been denied visits by family members.

One volunteer lawyer for the 14 suspects also said the Egyptian Interior Ministry has framed the group because investigators were not able to locate the individuals who actually aided the bombers. The Egyptian court scheduled the next hearing in the case for October 21 after granting the defendants permission for family visits and ordering medical reports to assess the torture allegations. Reuters has more.