Dox47
Phoenix
Joined: Jan 29, 2008
Age: 26
Posts: 884
Location: Bainbridge Island
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 Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 1:18 am Post subject: Middle East Pop Star Contract Killing |
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Pop Star's Slaying Turns Sordid Political Drama
| Quote: | CAIRO, Egypt — It's the Mideast version of a sordid soap opera. A Lebanese pop star is brutally murdered in her luxury Dubai apartment, her throat slashed. Arrested in her death: One of Egypt's most politically connected businessmen, accused of paying $2 million to have her killed.
The slaying of Suzanne Tamim has gone beyond a lurid crime story to something more serious — a glimpse into the close links between Egypt's government and powerful business tycoons long viewed as above the law.
It is also exposing strains between societies like Egypt's, where wealth and political power increasingly go hand in hand, and Dubai, which recently launched a high-profile push against corruption.
People in the Arab world have long followed with fascination and moral clucking the tales of businessmen and politicians cavorting with actresses, belly-dancers and singers — a sort of Hollywood Babylon in the conservative Muslim Middle East.
But even by those standards, the Tamim drama is a stunner. The 30-year-old singer, famed for her striking green eyes, was found dead in her Dubai apartment in July, with multiple stab wounds and a 20-centimeter (8 inch) slash across her throat.
This week, Egyptian authorities arrested real estate mogul Hisham Talaat Moustafa, said to be Tamim's former lover.
For many, the surprise wasn't Moustafa's alleged involvement — but his arrest.
Egyptians are widely convinced their government won't touch influential businessmen. When Moustafa's name first appeared in media reports weeks ago, he denied a role and complained on Egyptian television that the rumors hurt the economy. The government promptly banned press reports on the murder, suggesting that Moustafa was off-limits.
The tycoon is a top ruling party official close to President Hosni Mubarak's powerful son, Gamal. In the past 10 years, he has become one of Egypt's top billionaires, the owner of luxury hotels and beach resorts and a leading force in building Western-style suburbs ringing Cairo for the upper-class.
But on Tuesday, Egypt's public prosecutor accused the tycoon of contracting for the singer's killing by paying $2 million to Mohsen el-Sukkary, a former Egyptian state security officer. |
It's sort of a long article, but pretty interesting. I was struck by the amateur hour aspect of it, the guy over paid by a huge amount (a contract hit shouldn't have cost him more than 100 grand) and he hired someone with an obvious connection to himself (an employee of his company), who left a massive back trail pointing to himself. It sounds like he thought his power and influence alone would protect him, it seems he may be wrong.
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Fnord
Metasyntactic Variable
Joined: May 07, 2008
Posts: 4921
Location: Pantopia
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| Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 1:21 am Post subject: |
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Aside from the attractively sordid nature of the whole affair, there is little or nothing about it that is relevant to Western civilization.
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The unexamined faith is not worth believing.
The unexamined religion is not worth following.
The unexamined life is not worth living. |
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