FORMER REGIME INSIDER SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR POP

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 000929 SIPDIS FOR NEA/ELA AND DRL/NESCA E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/25/2029 TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM SOCI EG SUBJECT: FORMER REGIME INSIDER SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR POP STAR'S MURDER REF: A. CAIRO 452 ¶B. CAIRO 284 ¶C. 08 CAIRO 2452 ¶D. 08 CAIRO 2027 ¶E. 06 CAIRO 689 Classified By: Economic-Political Counselor Catherine Hill-Herndon for reason 1.4 (d). ¶1. (U) On May 21, a Cairo court convicted former regime insider and powerful businessman Hisham Talat Mustafa, and sentenced him to death for ordering the July 2008 Dubai murder of his former girlfriend, the Lebanese pop singer Suzanne Tamim. Mustafa, who remains a ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) parliamentarian, was a close confidante of presidential son Gamal Mubarak. The court also sentenced former police officer Mohsin Al-Sukkari to death for murdering Tamim at Mustafa's behest. Mustafa's lawyers plan to appeal the verdict following its publication June 25 and the Grand Mufti's consultations with the judges. The board of Mustafa's vast construction and real estate company, one of the largest publicly traded Egyptian firms, removed him as managing director following his summer 2008 arrest. The firm's stock fell 14 percent May 21 on news of the death sentence. ¶2. (C) Director of the Afro-Egyptian Human Rights Organization Engi Haddad told us the public was "shocked" that a powerful regime insider could receive such a sentence. She described some exuberant reactions from the human rights community, celebrating the rule of law in a case suffused with politics. Secretary-General of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights and practicing attorney Hafez Abu Seada noted that the prosecutors and the legal community expected the death sentence due to the "strong evidence" against Mustafa. Abu Seada said the only lawyer he knows who did not expect the death sentence was Mustafa's defense attorney. Abu Seada surmised that the GOE did not intervene in the case. ¶3. (C) Comment: Most observers believe the GOE did not interfere in the verdict, as opposed to the February fine against five independent journalists for violating a gag order on the case (ref A). Some anti-corruption activists believe Mustafa may have used funds from a corrupt land deal with the government to finance Tamim's murder; the case against the independent journalists began after one paper published a reference to the subpoena of Mustafa's accountant. The death sentence serves GOE interests in pre-empting calls to review the case records, which may contain details embarrassing to the regime. The sentence also serves GOE interests regarding public opinion in light of the outcry that followed the July 2008 acquittal of a regime-connected ferry boat owner for the February 2006 sinking that killed over 1,000 Egyptian workers returning from Saudi Arabia (ref E). SCOBEY