CAIRO – An Egyptian appeals court yesterday ordered a retrial of property tycoon and politician Hesham Talaat Moustafa, who was sentenced to hang for paying a gunman $2 million to murder a Lebanese singer.
Mr Moustafa, a member of parliament for Egypt’s ruling party and former chairman of the Talaat Moustafa Group, was convicted in a lower court of paying Egyptian security man Muhsen el-Sukkari to kill Suzanne Tamim (30) in Dubai. If this appeal had failed, Mr Moustafa and Mr Sukkari would have faced the gallows, unless pardoned by Egypt’s president.
Analysts said yesterday’s decision in a death sentence case was not unusual but Mr Moustafa’s privileged background was likely to encourage talk about different rules for the elite. His original sentencing had caused surprise in Egypt.
“What makes Egyptians talk about politics interfering in this case is because the accused had a prominent position in the ruling party, raising doubts about the extent the law is applied to rich businessmen possessing political connections,” said political analyst Nabil Abdel Fattah.
Judge Adel Abdel-Hamid said the court “accepts the request for retrial for both convicts” and that Mr Moustafa and Mr Sukkari’s case would go to retrial in a criminal court, prompting some present in the chamber to cheer.
Media reports labelled the attack an act of revenge after Ms Tamim, killed in 2008, ended a relationship with Mr Moustafa (50), a member of parliament’s upper house. – (Reuters)