The retrial of former president Hosni Mubarak was adjourned on Sunday until January to allow top security and army officials to give their testimonies.

Mubarak, along with his interior minister, Habib Al-Adly, and six top security aides are being retried over charges of complicity in the killing of demonstrators in the 2011 uprising that toppled him.

Last June, a court convicted and sentenced Mubarak and Al-Adly to life in prison, but a retrial was ordered in January because of "procedural failings." The retrial is slated to resume on January 11-13, when top government and military officials will testify.

Retired Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi – former leader of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which assumed power after Mubarak's exit in February 2011 – gave his testimony in a closed session on Saturday.

Also being retried alongside Mubarak in the same case are his sons Alaa and Gamal over charges of abuse of power and profiteering.

A media blackout ordered on the trial sessions in September, citing reasons of national security, was planned to be lifted on Monday after former head of the military police Hamdi Badeen was due to give evidence. Badeen is now scheduled to give his testimony on 8 February.

Also slated to testify is prominent journalist and TV presenter Ibrahim Eissa.

Mubarak, 85, was released from jail but is kept under house arrest in a military hospital in Maadi, a Cairo suburb. The former autocrat, who ruled Egypt for almost 30 years, also faces charges in three other corruption cases.