Egypt's Court of Cassation Wednesday overturned a death sentence against a suspect who was charged with murdering the daughter of a Moroccan singer and her friend in a Cairo city. The court, Egypt's highest court, orderd a new trial for him. "Mahmoud el-Essawi must stand trial again before a new court presided over by a new judge. The death sentence against him lacked evidence. It is overturned," the court said. It added that overturning the verdict did not mean that the defendant did not commit the crime. "However, another trial means a chance either to confirm the ruling or abolish it," a court member said. The defendant did not attend Wednesday's session as his presence in the court of cassation is optional, according to the source. El-Eissawi, 21, was sentenced to death last June for killing Heba el-Aqad, the daughter of Moroccan singer Leila Ghofran, and her friend Nadin Khaled Gamal Eddin in the latter's residence in a compound in 6th October city near Cairo. "I have no doubt el-Eissawi is the killer of my daughter and Heba. He explained how he committed the crime in detail and his fingerprints were found in the scene," Nadin's father said. The crime was committed in November 27 as el-Eissawi was trying to steal from the apartment when the two victims allegedly resisted him but he overpowered them, according to police. He was arrested less than a week after the murder. "My claimant is innocent and the crime is fabricated by the police who failed to nab the real criminal," el-Eissawi's lawyer told the press after the ruling was overturned Wednesday. The high-profile murder of Heba and Nadin grabbed the local headlines in Egypt due to the brutality of the crime. Hundreds of suspects were summoned by the police including Heba's husband who was excluded from the charge by the prosecutions.
