The verdict in the case against an Egyptian-Canadian accused of spying for Israel will be delayed until April 21, court heard on Wednesday.
Mohammed el-Attar, 30, has been on trial at the State Security Emergency Court, and has pleaded not guilty.
Police are still searching for three Israeli men, charged alongside el-Attar, who are being tried in absentia.
They are accused of being intelligence officers for Israel who gave el-Attar orders to use money and sex to recruit Christian Egyptian-Canadians.
If convicted, el-Attar and his co-defendants face a maximum life sentence, with hard labour.
El-Attar's lawyer, Ibrahim Bassiouny, argued Wednesday that it was ridiculous that someone like his client would be accused of spying, CTV's Middle East bureau chief Janis Mackey Frayer said.
Bassiouny presented a nearly four-hour long argument on his client's behalf, stressing that he never should have been arrested and searched at Cairo airport because the "investigation" into his alleged spying activities was baseless and flawed.
He called the prosecution's case "absurd" because it was based solely on el-Attar's confession which he maintains was extracted by torture, Mackey Frayer reported.
At times making the court audience laugh, Bassiouny described his client as a terrible candidate for a spy.
"He talks too much," Bassiouny said.
Bassiouny also poked fun at the prosecution's allegation that el-Attar received $56,000 in payments from the Mossad over the course of four years.
If that is all el-Attar earned, Bassiouny said, then "he was a real failure as a spy."
Bassiouny said he saw the delay as a positive sign as most people expected his client's fate was sealed even before the trial began.
In contrast to his lawyer, el-Attar kept quiet at the trial, Mackey Frayer said.
"He stood the entire time, gripping the wire mesh wall of the prisoner's cage. At one point, prompted by his lawyer, he began reciting verses from the Qur'an to prove to the court that he was a good Muslim," she said.
"When he finished, he turned toward the wall beside him, weeping. He splashed water on his face before returning his attention to the court."
Bassiouny accused the prosecution of "fixating" on el-Attar's "homosexual behaviour" and suggested it was more of a vice trial than one about spying.
"Outside the courthouse, we watched el-Attar being led to the prisoner's truck. He raised his hands in the air and flashed the 'V' sign as he has done often though today he was actually smiling," Mackey Frayer said.
Verdicts handed down in Egyptian state security courts are final and can only be reversed by a presidential pardon.
On Monday, el-Attar insisted Egyptian authorities coerced him to confess using torture by electrocution and forcing him to drink his own urine.
"I am innocent. I haven't done anything wrong at all. And I've never ever cheated on Canada," el-Attar told reporters, who were briefly allowed to approach him at the cage before the proceedings began.
El-Attar, a former student at the Islamic Al-Azhar university in Cairo, was arrested on Jan. 1 as he returned from abroad to visit his family in Egypt.
Prosecutors have accused al-Attar of betraying his religion and country by spying for Israel. He has denied the charges.
According to prosecutors, el-Attar confessed to the spying and gave a detailed account of his role in collecting information about Egyptians and Arabs living in Turkey and Canada, which he then gave to Israel for money.
The alleged confession, published earlier this month in independent and Egyptian government newspapers, claimed el-Attar fled Egypt in 2001.
It also claimed he sought asylum with the UN refugee agency offices in Turkey after he was sentenced to three years in prison for bank fraud.
The confession also alleged that el-Attar converted to Christianity in Istanbul and was allegedly sent to Canada, where he delivered more reports about Christian Egyptians.
Meanwhile, Israel has firmly denied using el-Attar as a spy. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev told The Associated Press that officials only knew about the case from the media.
With a report from CTV's Middle East Bureau Chief Janis Mackey Frayer and files from The Associated Press
