The defense team for Hesham Talaat Moustafa has challenged a court ruling that imprisoned the Egyptian business tycoon for 15 years over his connection to the murder of Lebanese pop singer Suzaan Tamim in 2008. Moustafa's team is urging his acquittal.
A prominent member of the National Democratic Party, Moustafa was proven to have masterminded the murder of the Lebanese diva and was handed a 15-year prison sentence.
The businessman and his accomplice, former police officer Hossam al-Sokkari, were delivered lighter sentences following an earlier decision that sought the execution of both.
Moustafa's retrial has sparked widespread controversy and raised questions, once again, over the alliance between wealth and legal power in Egypt.
Moustafa was the head of the Shura Council's Economy Committee and an NDP Policies Committee member.
Al-Sokkari is a former state security officer and previously worked as a security guard at one of the companies owned by Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris in Iraq.
