Tamim murder trial to start on October 18

Cairo: A criminal court has announced that the trial of a business tycoon and a former policeman accused of murdering a Lebanese singer in July will start on October 18, the official Middle East News Agency reported on Thursday.

On September 2, Egypt's Chief Prosecutor Abdul Majid Mahmoud charged Hesham Tala'at Mustafa, the ex-chairman of one the country's leading real-estate developers, and Mohsin Al Sukkari, a retired policeman, with slaying Lebanese singer Suzan Tamim in her luxury apartment in Dubai on July 28.

In denial

Al Sukkari had claimed that Mustafa, 49, had paid him $2 million (Dh7.3 million) to kill Tamim, an accusation flatly denied by the business mogul. Both defendants face the death penality if convicted.

The case has riveted public attention in Egypt because the prime defendant is also a former member of parliament and a politician in President Hosni Mubarak's ruling party.

Meanwhile, the chief prosecutor ordered a request filed by a lawyer who claims that members of Tamim's immediate family were involved in unlawful acts in Egypt, be investigated.

Nabih Al Wahash, a lawyer known for his lawsuits against personalities from the entertainment business, had accused Tamim's father and brother of alleged involvement in illegal acts that ultimately led to the singer's untimely death.

The premise for Al Wahash's accusations was apparently a foiled bid to smuggle cocaine into Egypt in 2004. Al Wahash also claimed that Tamim's brother had killed a person in his sister's apartment in Cairo before she fled Egypt apparently after a break-up with Mustafa.

Al Wahash, who requested that Tamim's father and brother be arrested through the Interpol, claimed Mustafa had helped the father-son duo escape punishment.