Lawyers in Cairo and Alexandria filed three lawsuits before the Administrative Court against councilor El-Mohammadi Qonsua, President of the Cairo Criminal Court, for issuing a gag order on the murder case of Lebanese singer Suzan Tamim, in which businessman Hisham Talaat Mustafa and former police officer Mohsen el-Sokkary are accused. They demanded lifting the order. Councilor Nabih el-Wahsh said there was no prior decision to make it a secret trial. Also there is no reason to investigate with al-Masry al-Youm and Al-Wafd newspapers for breaching the gag order, while the state-owned newspapers were not investigated for the same. He added that the order was issued at the request of Farid El-Deeb, Mustafa's lawyer, although it was Deeb who had prejudged the case in the media before and during the trial when he confirmed the innocence of his client.
Councilor Sherif Gad el-Haq said the order violates the Constitution because it takes away the right of 340 million Arabs to know about the case, which is but an ordinary murder case.
