20100626
reuters

A Cairo criminal court postponed a verdict on Saturday in the retrial of Egyptian property tycoon and politician Hesham Talaat Moustafa until Tuesday, the state news agency said.

An appeals court in March ordered the retrial of Moustafa, a member of parliament for Egypt's ruling party and former chairman of Talaat Moustafa Group, who had been sentenced to death for paying a security man to kill Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim.

Moustafa and security man Muhsen el-Sukkari were arrested in September 2008 and found guilty by a criminal court in May 2009 for Tamim's murder in Dubai in July 2008.

They had pleaded not guilty and appealed the ruling.

In March the appeals court accepted the retrial request and sent the case to another criminal court for retrial.

The murder has been described by the media as an act of revenge after Tamim ended an extramarital affair with Moustafa.

The case has gripped the attention of the Arab world since the Egyptian elite usually are regarded as being above the law.

The retrial, which started on April 26, was granted on the grounds of legal errors and after the original court was found to have failed to respond to defence requests.