An Egyptian court ordered the retrial of a real estate mogul sentenced to death for murdering his former lover, a Lebanese pop star. Can't buy me love...but freedom, that's another story.
The Cairo appeals court overturned the conviction of Hisham Talaat Mustafa, prompting cheers and applause from the billionaire tycoon's relatives in the packed downtown courtroom, who no doubt will stay in his will.
Moustafa was sentenced to death last May after being convicted of paying retired Egyptian police officer Mohsen Sukkari $2 million to kill Suzanne Tamim, while she was in Dubai in July 2008.
"The court has decided to accept ... the appeal presented by the defendants on procedural and content basis," said Judge Adel Abdel Hamid, who leads a panel of 11 judges, and will soon see an undisclosed "donation" made to his newly acquired Cayman Island bank account. "There will be a retrial," but conveniently, the reasons will be issued later. Gotta see that wire transfer go through, okay pal?
The Cairo appeals court overturned the conviction of Hisham Talaat Mustafa, prompting cheers and applause from the billionaire tycoon's relatives in the packed downtown courtroom, who no doubt will stay in his will.Moustafa was sentenced to death last May after being convicted of paying retired Egyptian police officer Mohsen Sukkari $2 million to kill Suzanne Tamim, while she was in Dubai in July 2008.
"The court has decided to accept ... the appeal presented by the defendants on procedural and content basis," said Judge Adel Abdel Hamid, who leads a panel of 11 judges, and will soon see an undisclosed "donation" made to his newly acquired Cayman Island bank account. "There will be a retrial," but conveniently, the reasons will be issued later. Gotta see that wire transfer go through, okay pal?
Lawyers argued against the sentence on grounds of faulty procedures, starting from the arrest to details of the Dubai investigation, and mostly finding fault with the guilty verdict. Sukkari will be retried as well.
That pretty much proves a real estate mogul with ties to President Hosni Mubarak's son, Gamal, and an influential member of the ruling party, can get away with murder in a region where the rich are often thought to be immune. Moustafa, 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.
The dead Tamim rose to stardom in the late 1990s on the force of her good looks and voice - in that order, much like all pop stars. But she hit troubled times, separating from her Lebanese husband-manager, who filed a series of lawsuits against her. Tamim and Moustafa met in the summer of 2004 at a Red Sea resort, Sukkari said in the transcripts in the trial that Moustafa was "always with Tamim," that he kept a hotel suite for her, and that he took her around in his private jet.
During interrogations, Moustafa said he broke up with Tamim after his mother opposed the couple's marriage plan. Moustafa comes from a religiously conservative Muslim family, which in the Arab world, can be grounds for manslaughter, but not murder.
That pretty much proves a real estate mogul with ties to President Hosni Mubarak's son, Gamal, and an influential member of the ruling party, can get away with murder in a region where the rich are often thought to be immune. Moustafa, 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.
The dead Tamim rose to stardom in the late 1990s on the force of her good looks and voice - in that order, much like all pop stars. But she hit troubled times, separating from her Lebanese husband-manager, who filed a series of lawsuits against her. Tamim and Moustafa met in the summer of 2004 at a Red Sea resort, Sukkari said in the transcripts in the trial that Moustafa was "always with Tamim," that he kept a hotel suite for her, and that he took her around in his private jet.
During interrogations, Moustafa said he broke up with Tamim after his mother opposed the couple's marriage plan. Moustafa comes from a religiously conservative Muslim family, which in the Arab world, can be grounds for manslaughter, but not murder.
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