CAIRO — An Egyptian tycoon and an associate sat side by side in a metal cage in a packed Cairo courtroom Saturday and denied charges that they orchestrated the murder of a Lebanese pop star famed for her striking green eyes.
Plainclothes policemen surrounded billionaire Hisham Talaat Moustafa and Mohsen el-Sukkary as they sat separated by a partition in the cage to prevent scuffles. Each is expected to blame the other for Suzanne Tamim’s killing.
The case has mesmerized millions across the Middle East. They were shocked by the allegations against Moustafa and just as surprised that authorities arrested the real estate mogul and lawmaker.
Moustafa is a close friend of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s son, Gamal, and part of a powerful group long known as the untouchables because they were seen as above the law in Egypt’s hierarchical class-based society.
But a month after the killing, Moustafa was stripped of his parliamentary immunity and arrested on charges that he ordered the killing of Tamim, who friends say left Cairo to break off her relationship with the married tycoon.
Tamim was found stabbed to death in her Dubai apartment in July. Moustafa is accused of ordering the killing, and el-Sukkary, a former Egyptian State Security officer who worked at one of Egypt’s Four Seasons Hotels owned by Moustafa, is charged with carrying it out.
On Saturday, after a prosecutor read out the murder charges, both men affirmed their innocence.
The tycoon’s attorneys requested that their client be released on bail, saying his imprisonment endangered the well-being of his workers.
But the judge refused the request to release Moustafa, the owner of luxury hotels and beach resorts in Egypt and a leading force in developing upscale Western-style suburbs around Cairo.
Tamim rose to stardom in the late 1990s but then hit troubled times, separating from her Lebanese husband-manager, who filed a series of lawsuits against her.
The judge adjourned the trial until Nov. 15.
