Retrial in Tamim murder case

Cairo:  An Egyptian court on Thursday ordered the retrial of a real estate mogul sentenced to death for murdering his former lover, a Lebanese pop star, in a case that transfixed the Arab world.

The 50-year-old businessman Hesham Talat Mustafa was convicted last May of paying a retired Egyptian police officer, Mohsen Al Sukkary $2 million to kill 30-year-old Suzanne Tamim, while she was in Dubai in July 2008.

The Court of Cassation, the country's highest court of appeal, overturned his conviction, prompting cheers and clapping from the billionaire tycoon's supporters in and outside the packed downtown courtroom.

"The court has decided to accept ... the appeal presented by the defendants on procedural and content basis," said Judge Adel Abdul Hamid, who leads the 11-panel judges. "There will be a retrial."

The reasons for accepting the appeal will be issued later. Lawyers argued against the sentence on grounds of faulty procedures, starting from the arrest to details of the Dubai investigation. Al Sukkary will be retried as well.

"There will be now a retrial. Thank God," said Fareed Al Dib, one of nearly a dozen defence lawyers. The defendants didn't have to appear in court. Although regularly in attendance, Mustafa's family were not in court yesterday, which was packed with journalists and security.

Al Sukkary's father jumped in relief. "Thank God we have a respectable judiciary," he said after the verdict.

A lower court will later decide when the retrial will take place. Lawyers say it could be as soon as two months from now.

Experts say it is customary in cases involving death sentences to give the defendants a second chance.

The case captivated Egyptians as it involved a member of an elite often viewed as above the law.

Many had wondered if the 50-year-old real estate mogul tied to President Hosni Mubarak's son, Jamal, and an influential member of the ruling party, would get away with murder in a region where the rich are often thought to be immune.

The court decision to retry the case is certain to raise charges that Mustafa's influence will keep him from the gallows.

Mustafa, a member of parliament's upper house, the Shura Council, was also a member the ruling party's policies committee, which the younger Mubarak chairs.

He is the chair of one of the country's main real estate companies, a family ran business, that continues to flourish despite the trial.

Mustafa's family — including wife and sister— had regularly attended the court sessions that spanned over 10 months. But yesterday, the family was absent from the courtroom.

Tamim rose to stardom in the late 1990s on the force of her good looks and voice, but then hit troubled times, separating from her Lebanese husband-manager, who filed a series of lawsuits against her.

Tamim and Mustafa met in the summer of 2004 at a Red Sea resort, according to transcripts of Mustafa's interrogation that were widely published in Egyptian newspapers. She had sought his help to divorce from her husband, according to media reports.

Al Sukkary, the former security officer, said in the transcripts in the trial that Mustafa was "always with Tamim," that he kept a hotel suite for her, and that he took her around in his private jet.

During interrogations, Mustafa said he broke up with his former lover Tamim after his mother opposed the couple's marriage plan. Mustafa, who is already married, comes from a conservative family.

According to Dubai investigators, Al Sukkary stalked Tamim to her apartment in the swanky Dubai Marina complex and entered using an ID of the management company from which she had recently bought her place.

Timeline: Suzan Tamim murder case

March 4, 2010
An Egyptian court revoked the death sentence previously handed down to Hesham Talaat Mustafa, an Egyptian business tycoon and Mohssen Al Sukkari, an ex-policeman convicted of killing Lebanese singer Suzan Tamim in Dubai and ordered their retrial.

August 22, 2009
The defence lawyers for Hesham Talaat Mustafa, an Egyptian business tycoon and Mohsen Munir Al Sukari, an ex-policeman, sentenced to death last May for ordering the slaying of Suzan Tamim, a Lebanese singer, appealed against the verdict and requested his re-trial.

June 25, 2009
Egyptian Criminal Court announced that the Grand Mufti (Egypt's top Muslim authority) has ratified the death sentences it passed against Hesham Talaat Moustafa and Mohssen Al Sukkari, an ex-policeman, for killing Suzan Tamim, a Lebanese singer

May 20, 2009
A Cairo criminal court sentenced Hisham Talaat Mustafa and  ex-cop Mohsen Munir Al Sukari to death by hanging for the July 2008 murder of Lebanese pop singer Suzanne Tamim.

February 14, 2009
A criminal court in Cairo, Egypt, in a murder trial of Suzan Tamim involving an Egyptian business tycoon, cross-examined a senior policeman from Dubai where the murder was committed.

September 02, 2008
Egyptian police arrested billionarie and business tycoon Hisham Talaat Mustafa for his involvement in this murder case. Ex-cop Mohsen Munir Al Sukari admitted to investigators that Mustafa hired him to kill Tamil for $2 million

August 10, 2008
Dubai police announced the arrest of an Arab man behind the gruesome killing of Lebanese singing sensation Suzan Tamim.

August 4, 2008
Lebanese singer, Suzan Tamim was buried in Beirut. The body of the slain singer was repatriated from Dubai the same morning.

July 28, 2008
Lebanese singer Suzan Tamim found murdered at Jumeirah Beach Residence Rimal Tower 1 in Dubai