Mubarak evidence destroyed before trial

Video evidence of violence in the 2011 revolution was recorded over before it could be obtained by lawyers prosecuting Hosni Mubarak, a document obtained by al-Araby al-Jadeed shows.

The General Intelligence Directorate letter dated 16 March 2011, advised the former assistant deputy public prosecutor, Adnan Fangaria, that footage of clashes around the Egyptian Museum during the height of the January revolt had been wiped.

The letter, marked "top secret", was in response to an evidence request. It said: "With reference to request number 19 made on 13 March 2011 by the prosecution, regarding surveillance footage from the Egyptian Museum in the period between 25 January and 3 February, attached to this document are six tapes recorded from 1 to 3 February. As for the surveillance footage from the period between 25 to 31 January, the tapes were recorded over."

The directorate's letter said that the museum's security system dated back to 1995, and the cameras were either manually activated or tripped by an alarm.

Mubarak, his former interior minister Habib al-Adly and six aides were last week cleared of complicity in the deaths of protesters in the January revolution. The presiding judge said there was no case to answer.

Mustafa Soliman, the first attorney general in Cairo's appeal court who was involved in Mubarak's case, said that he had confirmed the footage was passed directly to the intelligence services, which was normal procedure at the time.

This is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.