Egypt pardons ex-policeman jailed for pop singer murder

CAIRO: Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi pardoned on Saturday thousands of prisoners including a former policeman jailed over killing a Lebanese pop diva more than a decade ago, according to the official gazette.

Abdel Fattah Al Sisi granted clemency to a total of 3,157 people jailed on different cases on the occasion of the Eid Al Fitr holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Among those pardoned was former policeman Mohsen Al Sukkari, sentenced in 2010 to 25 years for the murder of Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim.

The court had found that Sukkari acted on instructions from Egyptian real estate tycoon Hisham Talaat Moustafa for a payment of $2 million.

The 2008 killing of Tamim, Moustafa’s lover, sparked public outcry across the Arab region.

Moustafa, a well-known businessman, was sentenced to 15 years for his part in the crime, but he was granted a presidential pardon in 2017 on health grounds.

He was close to Gamal Mubarak, son of the ousted president Hosni Mubarak who was overthrown in the 2011 mass uprising triggered in part by police brutality and rampant corruption. Moustafa was also member of Mubarak’s now-defunct National Democratic Party.

Earlier, Egypt said that security forces killed 21 militants in two separate raids in the restive northern Sinai Peninsula.

The Interior Ministry said the militants were plotting attacks during the Eid Al Fitr holiday. It said two Egyptian officers were wounded in the raids.

It said security forces exchanged fire with militants as they stormed a farm used as a hideout, killing at least 14 militants. In a simultaneous raid, security forces killed seven militants in a shootout as they stormed a house used as a hideout in another area, the ministry said. It added that police found weapons, explosive devices and suicide belts.

The details could not be independently corroborated as Egyptian authorities heavily restrict access to that part of Sinai.