A BILLIONAIRE developer and former member of the Egyptian parliament has been sentenced to death for ordering the murder of his ex-girlfriend, a Lebanese pop singer whose body was found in her high-rise apartment in the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai.
The verdict on Thursday against Hisham Talaat Mustafa, once a member of the ruling National Democratic Party, was the latest twist in a drama that has offered a glimpse into the closely guarded realm of Egypt’s politicians and businessmen.
Mustafa, a married man and one of the country’s richest tycoons, was found guilty of paying $2 million (€1.4 million) to a former policeman last year to kill Suzanne Tamim, a diva whose professional slide led her into the affair.
Appearing in court wearing prison-issue white shirt and trousers, Mustafa was granted an immediate review of the sentence by Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa. A religious investigation is common in Egypt for death penalty cases, but few had expected that a tycoon who built luxury hotels and had ties to President Hosni Mubarak’s family would be facing the gallows.
The verdict may be a sign to businessmen “that nobody is above the law”, said Hassan Nafae, a writer and political commentator. “It may deter some arrogant businessmen who thought there were no political or legal constraints on their ambitions as well as their sexual desires.”
When Mustafa’s fate was read by the judge in a cramped Cairo courtroom, he showed almost no emotion, but the crowd surged towards the cage where he was being held and chaos ensued. Security guards hurried Mustafa into the hall as family and friends screamed and wept. A woman variously described by media as Mustafa’s daughter or wife fainted.
The case has fascinated media across the Middle East. Egypt’s prosecutor general, Abdel-Maguid Mahmoud, had newspapers confiscated from kiosks and ordered a ban on publishing stories as the investigation pointed towards Mustafa, a former member of the ruling party’s policy secretariat, headed by Mr Mubarak’s son, Gamal. But the party’s ability to protect one of its own collided with the insistence of the Dubai authorities that Mustafa be charged with murder.
Mustafa hired hotel security guard and former policeman Mohsen Sukkari to kill Tamim (31) after the singer broke off their relationship when she became involved with an Iraqi kick-boxing champion. Mustafa, who has greying hair and a dark moustache, had dated Tamim for three years.
Police say Sukkari, who also was sentenced to death, entered Tamim's flat in Dubai on July 28th last year, slit her throat and fled, leaving his bloody clothes behind and his picture captured by a surveillance camera. – (LA Times-Washington Postservice)