Egypt’s Sissi pardons ex-cop convicted of slaying pop star
Mohsen al-Sukkari was hired by real estate tycoon to kill Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim in 2008; over 3,000 others also granted clemency for Eid al-Fitr holiday
Mohsen el-Sukkary at his trial session at the Cairo's southern court in Cairo, Egypt Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008. (AP/Nasser Nasser)
CAIRO, Egypt — Egypt’s president pardoned Saturday thousands of prisoners including a former policeman jailed over killing a Lebanese pop diva more than a decade ago, according to the official gazette.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi granted clemency to a total of 3,157 people jailed on different cases on the occasion of the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Among those pardoned was former policeman Mohsen al-Sukkari, sentenced in 2010 to 25 years for the murder of Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim.
The court had found that Sukkari acted on instructions from Egyptian real estate tycoon Hisham Talaat Moustafa for a payment of $2 million.
Popular Lebanese pop singer Suzanne Tamim poses during a video clip filming in Cairo, Egypt in this March 2008 file photo. (AP)
The 2008 killing of Tamim, Moustafa’s lover, sparked public outcry across the Arab world.
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Hisham Talaat, center, leaves Cairo’s southern court in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, June 25, 2009. (AP/Mohammed Ahmed)
Moustafa, a well-known businessman, was sentenced to 15 years for his part in the crime, but he was granted a presidential pardon in 2017 on health grounds.
He was close to Gamal Mubarak, son of the ousted president Hosni Mubarak who was overthrown in the 2011 mass uprising triggered in part by police brutality and rampant corruption.
Moustafa was also member of Mubarak’s now-defunct National Democratic Party.
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