Amid heavy media interest and tight security, the Cassation Court in Cairo started on Thursday looking into an appeal filed by the Egyptian construction mogul Hesham Talaat Moustafa against the death sentence he received in 2009 for instigating the killing of Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim in Dubai in 2008. Tens of newspaper and TV men and women hurried to the premises of the court, Egypt's highest judicial authority, in central Cairo Wednesday to take special permits to attend the session, which will start in the early morning of Thursday. Moustafa was charged with paying an ex-police officer, Mohsen el-Sukari, US$ 2 million to kill Tamim, a former lover of the businessman who is also an MP and a politician from the ruling National Democratic Party. El-Sukari was also sentenced to death. The case attracted such a huge media interest that it became the talk of almost everybody in Egypt for some time last year. Legal experts say the judges of the Appeals Court will determine whether the sentence against Moustafa and the police officer was correct. If this is the case, there will be no more chances for appeal, which means that both men will be executed, these legal experts say.
