**#9 AWB defendants freed on EGP 100k bail: The sons of former president Hosni Mubarak and three others were freed on a EGP 100k bail each on Thursday, following their arrest the previous weekend on charges of insider trading stemming from the sale of Al Watany Bank of Egypt to the National Bank of Kuwait in 2007. A new hearing has been set for 20 November, Reuters reports, citing statements from a court witness. The defendants, whose arrest led the stock market to suffer its biggest one-day dip in a year and half, have denied the charges and were reportedly divided on whether or not to accept settlement terms. The group — which includes former EFG co-CEOs Yasser El Mallawany and Hassan Heikal, among others — were given until 20 October to decide.

Judge to be replaced? The ruling came just after an appeals court approved a motion by defense lawyers to replace the judge presiding over the case, according to the Associated Press. Bloomberg also has the story.

Separate court ruling kills any chance Gamal will be able to get back into politics: The Court of Cassation rejected a motion by Hosni Mubarak and his sons to overturn their conviction for having embezzled public funds, AMAY reports. By upholding the conviction, for which they have already served their jail sentences, the Court of Cassation effectively ended any chance the Mubaraks have in returning to the political scene, writes the AP’s Hamza Hendawi. The decision comes weeks after pro-administration journalists lambastic public appearances by the Mubaraks and warned them against trying to return to political life.

Story featured heavily on the airwaves last night: Defense attorney Mohamed Hamouda, who was part of the AWB defense team, began his discussion with El Hekaya’s Amr Adib on the legal nuances of the case. But before any interesting facts came up, the discussion quickly fell to politics, where Hamouda said that his clients had no political ambitions (watch, runtime: 2:13). The politics angle also ran through a panel discussion that included Al Shorouk Editor-in-Chief Emad Al Din Hussein, who turned the talk into an analysis of what constitutes a “political crime,” of which he claims Hosni Mubarak was guilty (watch, runtime: 3:04). Hamouda’s response: Let history be the judge of “political crimes” and not the courts (watch, runtime 3:47).

The story is topping coverage of Egypt in the foreign press this morning, with the return to politics angle being widely noted.