Cairo: A 15-year jail sentence handed down in
2010 to Egyptian tycoon Hisham Talaat Moustafa for the murder
of a Lebanese pop singer has been confirmed by a Cairo court.
The court yesterday also confirmed a 25-year sentence
given to Mohsen al-Sukkari, who was found guilty of murdering
singer Suzanne Tamim, Moustafa's former lover, in July 2008 at
her Dubai apartment, MENA news agency reported today.
Moustafa was accused of having paid Sukkari, a former
policeman, USD 2 million (1.5 million euros) to cut Tamim's
throat.
Lawyers yesterday unsuccessfully pleaded the innocence
of the two men, claiming that "more than one person wanted to
kill Suzanne Tamim" and that the prosecutors had presented
only "circumstantial evidence" in the trial.
In May 2009, Moustafa, an associate of ousted president
Hosni Mubarak's son Gamal who also sat on the policies
committee of the former ruling National Democratic Party, was
sentenced to death.
A year later an appeals court overturned the conviction
on procedural grounds and ordered a retrial. In September
2010, Moustafa was sentenced to 15 years in jail.
But in November that year the prosecution complained the
sentence was "too lenient" and demanded Moustafa be tried
again.
Hosni Mubarak, toppled in a popular uprising last
February, is now himself on trial for corruption with his two
sons, Gamal and Alaa, and separately for the killings of
hundreds of protesters who took part in demonstrations against
his regime.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, February 07, 2012, 22:19