Tamim murder retrial decision next month

Two men sentenced to death over the murder in Dubai of singer Suzanne Tamim will learn next month whether their appeals for a retrial are successful.

CAIRO // Two men sentenced to death over the Dubai murder of singer Suzanne Tamim will learn next month whether their appeals for a retrial are successful. Eleven judges from the Cassation Court heard defence and appeal lawyers for more than five hours today, and will decide on March 4 whether there will be a new trial against Hesham Talaat Moustafa, 50, an Egyptian property tycoon and senior member of the ruling National Democratic Party, and Mohsen el Sokari, 40, a former state security officer. They were sentenced to death by the Cairo Criminal Court on May 21 last year after Moustafa was charged with hiring, inciting and assisting el Sokari to kill Tamim in July 2008. Moustafa was said to have paid el Sokari US$2 million (Dh7.3m) to murder the 30-year-old Lebanese singer, with whom he was romantically linked. Tamim was found dead on July 28, 2008. Her throat had been slit and she was lying in a pool of blood at the entrance to her flat at the Jumeirah Beach Residence. Judge Adel Abdel Hamid, the new head of the Cassation Court, is leading the judges' panel that will make the decision. He has a reputation for accepting appeals in death sentence cases. While these decisions often take a day, there is no guarantee it will be delivered that quickly. The two defendants did not attend today's session, and were not required to do so. [e-mail]