Egypt Confirms Tycoon, ex-Police Officer to Hang for Suzanne Tamim”s Murder
Egypt”s criminal court confirmed the death sentence against tycoon Hisham Talaat Mustafa and ex-police officer Mohsen al-Sukkari for the killing of Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim after the verdict was approved by the country”s top cleric.
Judge Al-Mohammedi Qunsua confirmed sentences of death by hanging for Mustafa and al-Sukkari for respectively ordering and carrying out Tamim”s murder in a luxury Dubai apartment in July last year.
The court initially issued its verdict in May, but in line with Islamic law, the death sentence had to be approved by the country”s mufti.
The defendants were escorted out of the courtroom after the judge”s proclamation which was greeted calmly by their friends and relatives, in sharp contrast to scenes of screaming and fainting during the May court session.
Since his appointment as mufti in 2003, Sheikh Ali Gomaa has received 480 requests to review death sentences and only refused two of them.
Defendants can still appeal the decision, a justice official said.
Mustafa was arrested last September and charged with ordering and paying 2 million dollars in cash for the murder of Tamim at her upmarket flat in Dubai on July 28, 2008 Egyptian prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud said at the time.
Mustafa, a stalwart of the ruling National Democratic Party and member of the Shura Council, Egypt”s upper house, runs the Talaat Mustafa Group real estate company worth several billion dollars.
Tamim, who rose to fame after winning a Lebanese talent show in 1996, was stabbed several times and reportedly decapitated in her flat.
Her life had been marred by domestic disputes, including a rocky marriage with her second husband and agent who had accused her in 2004 of being behind an attempt on his life.
Media reports have said the tycoon offered Tamim 50 million dollars to marry him. Egyptian media said the singer had a relationship with Mustafa over a three-year period that ended several months before her death.
The case captivated Egyptians as it involved a member of elite often viewed as above the law.