CAIRO: Proceedings began Saturday on the trial of billionaire and former MP Hisham Talaat Moustafa and Mohsen El-Sokkari for the murder of Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim. At the Southern Cairo Court in Bab El-Khalq and amidst heavy security, both Moustafa and El-Sokkari pleaded not guilty to the charges, claiming they had nothing to do with Tamim's death. El-Sokkari is accused of carrying out the murder - a brutal killing in which Tamim was stabbed several times and had her throat slit in her Dubai apartment on July 28 - at the behest of Moustafa, who was romantically linked with the singer in the past, according to his lawyer. Behind the mandatory dock where the defendants were placed, but this time partitioned to avoid a scuffle, Moustafa - smoking profusely throughout the hearing - told the presiding judge, "I didn't do it. I presented all evidence to prove that I didn t. I ask for God s protection for He is my best advocate. El-Sokkari also pleaded innocent, despite Egypt's Prosecutor General's previous statements that he had confessed to the crime and had implicated Moustafa in the case, claiming Moustafa had offered him $2 million to carry out the crime. Yet at the hearing, former police officer El-Sokkari said, "I didn't do it. By Almighty God, I am innocent of her blood. The prosecution admitted into evidence security camera tapes from Dubai, phone transcripts between the two men, fingerprint reports, DNA tests, a Swiss army knife and a white pair of long shorts and a T-shirt allegedly belonging to El-Sokkari. Former editor of Sout Al-Umma Wael El-Ebrashy attended the hearing and told reporters afterwards that he anticipated that the trial "would go on for at least eight months. "The teams for both defendants submitted a series of between 30-50 requests each, calling for witnesses from London and Dubai, so this will take time, he said. El-Ebrashy said that the strategy of both defense teams was to try and implicate Tamim's estranged husband, Lebanese music producer Adel Matouk, in her death to at least cast reasonable doubt on their culpability. The relationship between Matouk and Tamim had soured considerably years before her death, and death threats had been sprung back and forth between Matouk and Tamim's family. Matouk was not present at Saturday's hearing, but was represented by Egyptian lawyer Talaat Al Sadat. Tamim's father, Abdel Sattar Tamim, was prohibited from entering Egypt by state security for allegedly being implicated in a heroin-possession case over four years ago; an accusation he rebutted in a phone interview with "90 Minutes talk show host Moataz Demerdash on Mehwar satellite channel, claiming that he has entered Egypt at least eight times since that incident. El-Ebrashy also said that El-Sokkari's defense team planned to contest that it was El-Sokkari who was captured on the closed circuit TV footage and that it wasn't his blood on the clothes found in the dumpster outside Tamim's building. It was police authorities in Dubai who fingered El-Sokkari and he was arrested an hour and a half after landing in Cairo on the same day of the murder. They identified him using footage from the building's security cameras and found a change of clothes caked with blood outside the building. Although the crime was committed in Dubai, the trial is being held in Cairo because Egypt does not extradite its citizens for crimes committed abroad. Moustafa, the billionaire and former chairman of the development behemoth Talaat Moustafa Group, was arrested Sept. 2 after parliamentary immunity was lifted from him. He is also a member of the policies secretariat of the National Democratic Party (NDP) which is headed by Gamal Mubarak. Many opposition members told the press outside the courtroom that this trial was being perceived as an indictment of the NDP and that Moustafa was symbolic of the NDP standing trial for its policies and the perception that it has elevated businessmen to degrees of authority which may be considered above the law. Prior to his arrest, a publishing ban was instituted in Egypt when rumors surfaced of Moustafa's possible involvement in the case. An edition from Al-Dostour newspaper was pulled from the market and two journalists arrested when they penned an article that an Egyptian businessman could have been involved in the murder. Moustafa himself had then appeared on television stating that rumors such a these were unfounded and hurt the Egyptian economy. Outside the court as the hearing took place heavy security was put in place as soldiers formed a cordon around the courthouse. Lawyers trying to enter the building to attend unrelated cases had great difficulty in getting in and throngs of reporters and photographers milled about. Some of the soldiers, who had been in position since 4 am, took the opportunity of the heavy media presence to bemoan their lot. "Instead of writing about him (Moustafa), you should write about us, the poor people who have nothing, one of the soldiers said. The court denied bail for Moustafa and adjourned the case until Nov. 15 whereupon the trial will resume.
