Hisham Talaat Moustafa

Background

Born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 1959, Moustafa graduated in 1980 from the University of Alexandria's College of Commerce with an accounting degree. He is the youngest son of construction magnate Talaat Moustafa and is married with three children (in order of birth): Omar, Tarek, and Mohamed.

Murder case

On September 2, 2008, Moustafa was charged in Cairo of arranging the murder of Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim. Moustafa was stripped of his parliamentary immunity. Shares in Talaat Moustafa Group, one of Egypt's biggest real estate developers, fell sharply on the day of his arrest as reports of the indictment reached the stock market. The stock had declined over the summer as rumors of Moustafa's involvement in the murder swirled through Egypt. In November 2008, the presiding judge issued a gag order on the publication of case details other than procedural decisions and the final verdict.

On May 21, 2009, Moustafa was found guilty of involvement in the murder through "incitement, agreement and assistance." On June 25, he was sentenced to death by hanging, along with former police officer Mohsen al-Sukkari, who was paid $2 million to carry out the hit. Egypt's Grand Mufti Sheikh Ali Goma'a upheld the verdict: "The court found no reason to have mercy on the defendants and decided to execute them unanimously." An appeal was filed the day before the August 25 deadline.

Retrial

On March 4, 2010, the Cassation Court of Egypt accepted an appeal for a new trial after concluding the original verdict had made mistakes of legal technicality. The defense argued that co-defendant Al-Sukkari was not properly represented during his first questioning. Prosecutor Moustafa Khater responded to the finding by stating that Al-Sukkari did not ask for a lawyer. The retrial began on April 26. On May 28, Tamim's family dropped its civil suit against Moustafa and denied that they were paid any money in return. Judge Mahmoud el Khodeiry, former deputy chief of Egypt’s appeals court, said this would have no effect on the murder case. On September 25, prosecutors spent two hours delivering final retrial statements, arguing that they had evidence from 39 witnesses and mobile phone messages. Documents presented to the court included records of an attempt by Moustafa to freeze Tamim’s bank account in Geneva. On September 28, 2010, the court re-sentenced Moustafa to a reduced penalty of 15 years imprisonment. Political analysts were surprised that the judgment was issued before final statements were completed. Attorney Gamal Eid of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information stated, "They did not even bother to go through the motions to save face. I do not trust that the judiciary is independent, and every day there is new proof of this."

Assault investigation

In August 2010, Egyptian authorities initiated an investigation into claims that Moustafa assaulted his brother-in-law, Ihab Mohamed Madi, during the first week of Ramadan. Madi alleged that the altercation began when he attempted to mediate a dispute between his wife, Sahar, and Moustafa. Sahar, Moustafa's sister, has been recognized as the only family member who consistently attended his court proceedings.

Presidential pardon

In June 2017, Moustafa was released after receiving a presidential pardon.