Credit card links Tamim suspect to murder weapon

Nadia abou el Magd

• Last Updated: February 15. 2009 9:30AM UAE / February 15. 2009 5:30AM GMT

CAIRO // The suspect in the murder of the Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim was identified through a credit card with which he bought the murder weapon, a court was told yesterday.

Tamim was found dead in her Dubai apartment last July, having been stabbed several times and slashed across the throat.

Col Khalil al Mansouri, the director of Dubai Police’s criminal investigation department, gave evidence before a three-judge panel in Cairo. Col al Mansouri said his officers identified Mohsen el Sokari after he bought a knife, alleged to have been the murder weapon, with his credit card.

Mr el Sokari is also alleged to have used the card to buy Nike trousers and shoes that were left on the 21st floor of Tamim’s Jumeirah Beach Residence building, the floor below her flat, on July 28 last year.

Pictures from a security camera in the building allegedly showed Mr el Sokari entering the building that day wearing the clothes.

When found on the 21st floor, they were stained with the victim’s blood.

Mr el Sokari, 39, a former Egyptian police officer, was arrested in early August in Cairo and charged with killing Tamim.

Hisham Talaat Moustafa, 49, a billionaire and a member of Egypt’s ruling party, is accused of hiring Mr el Sokari to kill Tamim, his estranged lover, for $2million (Dh7.35m).

He has been in custody since early September.

Also yesterday, the presiding judge, Al Mohammadi Qunsua, said the court had received testimony from Tamim’s parents and brother, Khalil, via the Lebanese Embassy in Cairo.

They had accused Mr Moustafa of ordering Mr el Sokari to kill the singer. The three also accused Mr Moustafa of “mistreating and threatening” her.

The judge also gave permission to a police officer working with the prosecution to examine Tamim’s mobile phone chip.

He asked that the results be ready by tomorrow, along with a technical report from the Dubai company that installed the surveillance cameras at her building.

The judge adjourned the trial until tomorrow and ordered that the defendants remain in custody.


nmagd@thenational.ae