Conviction for murder of pop diva overturned

AN Egyptian appeals court has overturned the convictions of a leading ruling party member and a former policeman sentenced to death for the murder of a Lebanese pop diva.

The cassation court yesterday ordered a retrial for ruling party member Hisham Talaat Mustafa and Mohsen al-Sukkari, the ex-policeman, who had been convicted by a lower court last May of singer Suzanne Tamim’s murder and sentenced to hang.

The court did not give its reasons for the ruling. The two men are to remain behind bars pending the retrial.

Mustafa, a real estate magnate, was accused of paying Sukkari EGP£11 million (€1.5m) to cut the throat of his one-time lover in July 2008 in a luxury Dubai apartment which she had bought months earlier.

The case has gripped Egypt, where powerful businessmen are rarely seen to face justice.

At the time of the lower court ruling in May, Abdel Sattar Tamim, the slain singer’s father, said that the family was satisfied with the verdict and awaiting the approval of Egypt’s mufti.

“We have full faith in the Egyptian judicial system and we are awaiting the final ruling.”

Yesterday, Tamim’s father would not talk to reporters in Beirut. Her paternal grandmother was in tears.

At the original trial, prosecutors alleged that Mustafa ordered the killing after Tamim wed Iraqi kick-boxing champion Riyad al-Azzawi, whom she met at London’s Harrods store.

According to the prosecution case, Sukkari followed her to Dubai to stake out Tamim’s flat. It was alleged he then bought a knife, went to the apartment saying he worked for the building owner and allegedly killed her when she opened the door.

Egyptian media said Tamim had a three-year relationship with Mustafa that ended several months before her death.

Sukkari, who headed security at one of Mustafa’s hotels, was arrested a week later in Egypt.

A police officer testified that Sukkari said in interrogation that Mustafa asked for Tamim’s severed head to be delivered before he paid for the killing.