Translated material
Execution for a billionaire
Egyptian man convicted of killing Lebanese singer
After the death verdict was handed down to a major Egyptian businessman and ex-senator from the ruling National Democratic Party, Hisham Talaat Mustafa, his two daughters and sister fainted. Other relatives attacked reporters, trying to prevent them from photographing the condemned man. The case took place yesterday in a Cairo court, which sentenced 50-year-old Mustafa and 39-year-old former state security officer Muhsin al-Sukkari to death for the murder of Lebanese pop diva Suzanne Tamim. The prosecution insisted that Mustafa instructed al-Sukkari to deal with Tamim out of jealousy.The singer was 30 years old when police found her in her Dubai apartment on July 28 last year in the United Arab Emirates with multiple stab wounds and a slit throat. It happened in the elite quarter of Jumeirah, where on March 28 of this year there was an attempt on the life of Sulim Yamadayev . The singer's murder weapon was found, and video cameras recorded a visit to her apartment by al-Sukkari, who introduced himself to the owner as an employee of the building's administration.
Investigators found that at that time Muhsin al-Sukkari worked as the head of security at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. The hotel belongs to the construction and investment holding Talaat Mustafa Group, which has a capital of several billion dollars. It is named after the owner, whose youngest son is Hisham Mustafa.
A few days after the assassination, al-Sukkari was arrested in Cairo at the request of the UAE. After this, the investigation obtained recordings of telephone conversations between the alleged customer and the perpetrator of the crime. It followed from them that Hisham Mustafa, then head of the real estate division of his father’s holding, promised al-Sukkari $2 million for eliminating Tamim. It turned out that the killer had previously tracked the singer in London, where he intended to hit her with a car or throw her from the balcony of a hotel room. But the woman was constantly accompanied by guards, and, moreover, as if fearing something, she hastily left England.
Many people in Egypt know that Hisham Mustafa is a friend of Gamal Mubarak, the eldest son of President Hosni Mubarak. However, on September 2, the speaker of the Senate, in which the suspect served as deputy head of the economic committee, stripped him of parliamentary immunity. The ex-senator was arrested, after which the shares of Talaat Mustafa Group collapsed, and in order to avoid its ruin and preserve the honor of the family, His brother Tariq took over Hisham’s post. The process has been going on behind closed doors since October. Arab media reported that the businessman, who has three sons in addition to his daughters, maintained a close relationship with the artist for three years and even intended to propose to her.
Tamim was made famous by his beauty, his wonderful voice, which allowed him to sing classic Arabic and Western songs, and the Grand Prix received in 1996 at the TV competition “Studio el-Fan”. In 2006, the singer recorded the song “Beirut,” which brought her pan-Arab fame, dedicated to the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who died a year earlier as a result of a terrorist attack.
But her personal life was difficult - Tamim was twice divorced, her second husband pursued her with lawsuits for “embezzlement, fraud and slander.” According to media reports, in the last year and a half of her life she was married to an Iraqi - a British kickboxing champion.
Her Egyptian lover was tried in his homeland because local laws prohibit extradition. The verdict will be submitted to the country's Grand Mufti for approval, and the final hearing is scheduled for June 25. Lawyers for those convicted will appeal the verdict to the Supreme Court. The Tamim family's lawyer said he was satisfied with the court's decision, but added: "Who can be happy from contemplating death - whether it happens as an atrocity or as an execution."