An Egyptian court Thursday has ordered a retrial for an Egyptian real estate mogul who was convicted and sentenced to death for the killing of a Lebanese pop star. The Cairo appeals court overturned the conviction of Hisham Talaat Moustafa prompting cheers and clapping from billionaire tycoon's relatives in the packed downtown courtroom. The Moustafa was sentenced to death last May after being convicted of paying a retired Egyptian police officer Mohsen el-Sukkary $2 million to kill 30-year-old Suzanne Tamim, while she was in Dubai in July 2008. El-Sukkary will be retried as well. The case captivated Egyptians as it involved a member of an elite often viewed as above the law. Tamim rose to stardom in the late 1990s on the force of her good looks and voice, but then hit troubled times, separating from her Lebanese husband-manager, who filed a series of lawsuits against her. El-Sukkary, the former security officer, said in the transcripts in the trial that Moustafa was "always with Tamim," that he kept a hotel suite for her, and that he took her around in his private jet. According to Dubai investigators, el-Sukkary stalked Tamim to her apartment in the Dubai Marina complex and entered using an ID of the management company from which she had recently bought her place. El-Sukkary was arrested Aug. 2008 in Egypt. Dubai police travelled to Cairo to present their evidence against him but then turned their attention to Moustafa. Egypt declined to extradite Moustafa to the United Arab Emirates, insisting he be tried at home.
