The South Cairo Criminal Court postponed the trial of Major General Hassan Abdel Rahman, former head of the State Security Investigation Services, his deputy Major General Tareq Abu Gheida, and other high-ranking security officials to 11 December.
The suspects are accused of burning and giving the orders to burn official documents during the 2011 revolution.
The court summoned Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and former Interior Ministers Mansour al-Essawy and Mahmoud Wagdy to testify when the court reconvenes.
The court reviewed 15 videos of citizens storming SSIS headquarters in Beni Suef Governorate, in which those involved claim that state security officers burned documents and threatened to shoot anyone who came near them while they were destroying documents. Protesters in the video testify that security officers dug a large hole in which to bury the burnt remains of the documents.
The court has refused to review videos other than those recorded by citizens.
In March 2011, hundreds of civilians broke into the SSIS facilities in Cairo and other governorates following reports that its officers had been disposing of documents believed to provide evidence of its corrupt practices.
Citizens seized a number of documents and handed them over to investigators.
The SSIS, which had been Egypt’s much-feared and most-hated security agency, was one tool used by Mubarak’s regime to suppress political activism. The agency was accused of torturing political detainees.
The agency was disbanded by Essawy in March 2011 and replaced with the National Security Agency.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
