Excluir categoria do posts relacionados

Saudaçoes amigos, estou com uma duvida cruel como fazer para excluir somente uma categoria dos posts relacionados do meu tema, ja tentei de tudo que encontrei na internet mas nao deu certo, sei que aqui so tem os melhores do Brasil resolvi pedir essa huimilde ajuda, eu gostaria de excluir das listagens somente a categoria cujo o id 12. Como fazer? segue o code. Desede ja agradeço a ajuda de todos.Obrigado

<?php
global $get_meta , $post;

if( ( tie_get_option('related') && empty( $get_meta["tie_hide_related"][0] ) ) || ( isset( $get_meta["tie_hide_related"][0] ) && $get_meta["tie_hide_related"][0] == 'no' ) ):
	$related_no = tie_get_option('related_number') ? tie_get_option('related_number') : 3;

	global $post;
	$orig_post = $post;

	$query_type = tie_get_option('related_query') ;
	if( $query_type == 'author' ){
		$args=array('post__not_in' => array($post->ID),'posts_per_page'=> $related_no , 'author'=> get_the_author_meta( 'ID' ));
	}elseif( $query_type == 'tag' ){
		$tags = wp_get_post_tags($post->ID);
		$tags_ids = array();
		foreach($tags as $individual_tag) $tags_ids[] = $individual_tag->term_id;
		$args=array('post__not_in' => array($post->ID),'posts_per_page'=> $related_no , 'tag__in'=> $tags_ids );
	}
	else{
		$categories = get_the_category($post->ID);
		$category_ids = array();
		foreach($categories as $individual_category) $category_ids[] = $individual_category->term_id;
		$args=array('post__not_in' => array($post->ID),'posts_per_page'=> $related_no , 'category__in'=> $category_ids );
	}
	$related_query = new wp_query( $args );
	if( $related_query->have_posts() ) : $count=0;?>

	<section id="related_posts">
		<div class="block-head">
			<h3><?php _e( 'Related Articles' , 'tie' ); ?></h3><div class="stripe-line"></div>
		</div>
		<div class="post-listing">
			<?php while ( $related_query->have_posts() ) : $related_query->the_post()?>
			<div class="related-item">
				<?php if ( function_exists("has_post_thumbnail") && has_post_thumbnail() ) : ?>
				<div class="post-thumbnail">
					<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" title="<?php printf( __( 'Permalink to %s', 'tie' ), the_title_attribute( 'echo=0' ) ); ?>" rel="bookmark">
						<?php tie_thumb('', 272 ,125); ?>
						<span class="overlay-icon"></span>
					</a>
				</div><!-- post-thumbnail /-->
				<?php endif; ?>
				<h3><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" title="<?php printf( __( 'Permalink to %s', 'tie' ), the_title_attribute( 'echo=0' ) ); ?>" rel="bookmark"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h3>
				<p class="post-meta"><?php the_time(get_option('date_format')); ?></p>
			</div>
			<?php endwhile;?>
			<div class="clear"></div>
		</div>
	</section>
	<?php	endif;
	$post = $orig_post;
	wp_reset_query();
endif; ?>