THE case of the slaying of Lebanese pop singer Suzanne Tamim has taken a new turn, with the victim's family withdrawing their claim that Hisham Talaat Moustafa, an Egyptian multimillionaire, hired Mohssen el-Sukari, a former police officer, to murder their daughter. Moustafa and el-Sukari were sentenced to death by a former precinct of the Cairo Criminal Court, which found them guilty of slaying the littleknown pop singer in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, in 2008. However, the Cassation Court, which is the highest court in Egypt, upheld the appeal by the condemned and ordered a retrial at a Cairo criminal court, which resumes hearings of the high-profile case on June 26. The court was told that the Egyptian real estate mogul decided to get rid of the Lebanese singer, after she spurned his offer of marriage and eloped with another lover, having, so it is thought, withdrawn millions of US dollars from an account opened in her name in a Swiss bank by Hisham. Hisham's defence team must have heaved a deep sigh of relief when the late singer's family changed their minds earlier this month about the alleged role of the wealthy Egyptian in their daughter's murder. The family's spokesman said they doubted that Hisham's hands were stained with the blood of their daughter, adding that they had substantial information that the killer was someone other than el-Sukari. Suzanne Tamim was found lying in a pool of blood in her expensive apartment in a highrise in Dubai. Forensic scientists said that the killer had slaughtered her brutally and professionally with a Swiss Army knife. Confirming the family's change of mind, Farid el-Deeb, the head of Hisham's defence team, says that the family's written testimony has already been submitted to the Criminal Court. El-Deeb denies that the family's change of mind was part of $750 million deal signed in Paris between Hisham's sister, Sahar, and the representatives of the victim's family. El-Deeb says that Sahar flew to Paris to attend her daughter's graduation ceremony from a university there. He also denies that Hisham, who pleaded not guilty, would tarnish his image and pay money to save his neck. It is thought that Hisham has paid Tamim's family $14 million to stress his innocence, the local media claimed. In the meantime, senior members of the judiciary say that the family's latest move will persuade the judges presiding over the ongoing hearings to reduce the sentences, if the suspects are found guilty. Comparing the legal move by the pop singer's family to accept blood money, members of the judiciary believe that Hisham will only get a five-year sentence at most. “This will put el-Sukari in a more favourable position, saving his neck too,” says a seniorlawyer, speaking on condition of anonymity.
