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Egyptian tycoon MP charged over popstar murder

05/09/2008

One of Egypt's leading businessmen has been charged in connection with the brutal murder of a Lebanese popstar earlier this summer.

Suzanne Tamim, 30, who became a household name in the region after winning a TV talent show in the mid-1990s, was found dead in her Dubai luxury apartment in June.

She had been stabbed several times and had sustained an 8in slash across her throat, the Associated Press news agency said.

This week prosecutors revealed that billionaire MP Heshaam Talaat Moustafa had been charged with hiring a hitman to kill Tamim.

Mr Moustafa, a member of the ruling National Democratic party, has reportedly had his legal immunity as an MP revoked by president Hosni Mubarak.

The case, which has shocked the entire Arab world, has only fully come to light this week after a reporting ban was lifted in Egypt, where links between business and politics are already in the spotlight.