Friday 5 March 2010

Egypt Overturns Death Sentence in Star’s Murder

Now, faced with an economic crisis and the high-profile assassination of a Hamas operative in Dubai, those dynamics have begun to shift again, perhaps easing the outside pressure on Egypt.

By MICHAEL SLACKMAN

Published: March 4, 2010
 CAIRO — An Egyptian court threw out the death sentence on Thursday against a multimillionaire former legislator who was convicted of paying millions of dollars to a retired police officer to murder a Lebanese pop diva, a case that riveted the Arab world with its mix of fame, money and politics.
The Court of Cassation, Egypt’s highest appeals court, ordered a new trial for the former legislator, Hisham Talat Moustafa, 51, a wealthy, politically connected businessman, and the man he was charged with hiring for the killing, Mohsen el-Sukari.
The 11-judge panel did not give specific reasons but noted that the appeal was accepted on technical grounds. The two men will remain in prison pending the outcome of the new trial, said Mr. Sukari’s father, Mounir Mohsen al-Sukari.
“It is a fair ruling that corrects the previous mistakes,” the father said. “I have always been convinced of my son’s innocence, and he is convinced of his own innocence and knows that God will save him.”
Mr. Moustafa and Mr. Sukari were convicted in May and sentenced to death in the stabbing murder of Suzanne Tamim, a 30-year-old pop star found dead in her Dubai apartment in July 2008. The case attracted wide attention because of Ms. Tamim’s fame and Mr. Moustafa’s wealth and close ties to the family of President Hosni Mubarak. There were reports that Mr. Moustafa and Ms. Tamim had been romantically involved, that Ms. Tamim had fled and that the killing was an act of outrage and revenge.

The case also highlighted shifting power dynamics in the Arab world, as the authorities from the oil-rich United Arab Emirates pressed for the prosecution, forcing Egypt to put on trial a prominent member of the most elite stratum of society. Egypt does not allow citizens to be extradited, so it held the trial here.
Now, faced with an economic crisis and the high-profile assassination of a Hamas operative in Dubai, those dynamics have begun to shift again, perhaps easing the outside pressure on Egypt.

“The decision could be correct, but there is no doubt that the general perception will be that it was his money and connections that did it,” said Osama el-Ghazali Harb, a political analyst and opposition party leader in Egypt, of the court’s decision to give a new trial.

When Mr. Moustafa was convicted and then sentenced to death, those facts were cited as proof that Egypt had an independent judiciary and that even the rich and powerful were held accountable. With the decision to throw out the conviction, the reverse was charged, fueling the widespread sentiment that any rich, politically connected Egyptian can live outside the law.

“I think the regime has a degree of sympathy for Hisham Talaat Moustafa for all the obvious reasons, and they were going to help him,” said Fahmy Howeidy, a political analyst and writer. “Well, first, by not hanging him. After that anything can happen. What’s important is that he is not sentenced to death.”
Mr. Moustafa, a former chief executive officer of Talaat Moustafa Group Holding, had an estimated net worth of $800 million in 2007. He was a member of Mr. Mubarak’s governing National Democratic Party.

Ms. Tamim became famous after winning the regional equivalent of “American Idol,” called “Studio al-Fann.” When she moved to Cairo she was entangled in a bitter divorce from her second husband.
She met Mr. Moustafa, who offered to help revive her career and then, according to news reports, became romantically involved. But she eventually moved to Dubai and married a kickboxing champion.
Prosecutors charged that Mr. Moustafa was enraged and hired Mr. Sukari, who was arrested in Egypt shortly after the killing at the request of the authorities in the United Arab Emirates. When word of Mr. Moustafa’s connection to the case first emerged in Egypt, affecting his family’s holdings, he called for passing a law to make it illegal to spread rumors in the stock market.

Mona El-Naggar contributed reporting.
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