Egypt tycoon charged over Dubai singer killing

Egypt's public prosecutor on Tuesday charged Egyptian tycoon Hisham Talaat Mustafa in connection with the brutal killing of Lebanese pop singer Suzanne Tamim in Dubai in July, state media reported.

Mustafa is charged with paying for the murder of Tamim at her flat in Dubai on July 28, prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmud said in a statement carried by the official MENA news agency.

Mustafa, a stalwart of of the ruling National Democratic Party and member of the Shura Council, Egypt's upper house, runs the Talaat Mustafa real estate group that is worth several billion dollars.

A judicial source said Mustafa, who was born in 1959, had been arrested and was being held pending trial.

Tamim, who rose to fame after winning a Lebanese talent show in 1996, was stabbed several times and reportedly decapitated in her flat.

Her life had been marred by domestic disputes, including a rocky marriage with her second husband and agent who had accused her in 2004 of being behind an attempt on his life.

In August, an edition of Egyptian daily Al-Dustur was seized after it alleged an "important Egyptian figure" was involved in the murder of Tamim, who was stabbed several times and reportedly decapitated in her flat.

The identity of the Egyptian figure was not specified by the paper, which said the person was "highly influential" and "close to power" and Egyptian business circles.

The article alleged that a former Egyptian police officer as well as two hotel security officials had confessed to killing the singer for an Egyptian client.

Prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud referred Al-Dustur's managing editor Ibrahim Eissa to public prosecutors for breaking a ban on publishing articles about the case, a judicial source said.

The source told AFP that the prosecutor general had banned the media a week ago from reporting on the investigation into the singer's death as it was still in progress.