Pakistan's Musharraf trial delayed again

Treason trial was due to start December 24 but has been repeatedly delayed, mostly due to health and security scares.

The treason trial of the former Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf, has has been delayed again after a court adjourned to consider his medical report. Lawyers representing Musharraf handed the report to the judges on Friday. Justice Faisal Arab, who is leading the three-man panel, said the court would retire until Wednesday to review the information. Musharraf, who is facing a series of criminal charges relating to his 1999-2008 rule, was taken to hospital on January 2 after suffering a heart problem on his way to a hearing.

A Pakistani newspaper, Express News, obtained a copy of the medical report. It said Musharraf was presented to the emergency department "with uneasiness in the chest, sweating and discomfort in left arm".

The document also said he had nine medical conditions including a blocked artery and "recurrent discomfort around the left shoulder joint and had suffered from frozen shoulder in the past". His legal team have asked that he be transferred to the Paris Regional Medical Centre in Paris, Texas.

Musharraf has repeatedly denounced the treason case as a "vendetta" against him.

He faces a number of charges since he returned to Pakistan in a thwarted bid to run in May's general election. These include murder charges over the assassination in late 2007 of the former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto.

The treason case was due to start on December 24 but had to be delayed after police found explosives and a detonator on Musharraf's route to court. There have been several security scares since then.