CAIRO // Security video footage recorded in the Dubai tower block where the Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim was murdered was genuine and had not been tampered with, a court in Cairo was told yesterday. An engineer who installed the surveillance cameras was called to give evidence in the retrial of two men accused of killing Tamim two years ago. The footage, previously shown to the court, showed Tamim's body in a pool of blood at the entrance to her 22nd-floor apartment in Jumeirah Beach Residence.
Mohsen el Sokari, 41, a former state security officer, is accused of murdering Tamim, 30, at the request of her former lover, Hesham Talaat Moustafa, 50, an Egyptian tycoon and a senior member of the ruling National Democratic Party, in exchange for US$2 million (Dh7.3m). The footage showed Mr el Sokari leaving the Oasis hotel, entering Tamim's building, then going back to his hotel and checking out shortly after the crime was committed on the morning of July 28, 2008, prosecutors said.
The defence team has insisted that the tapes were fabricated or had been tampered with. Yesterday, a three-judge panel heard testimony from Dirzadeh Wajih el Din, 38, a Pakistani engineer who installed the surveillance cameras in Remal tower in Jumeirah Beach Residence. Speaking in English - his testimony and answers to questions by a judge and prosecutor were rendered into Arabic through a translator provided by the UAE - Mr el Din said: "I'm 100 per cent sure of the authenticity of the footage because if it was adapted or tampered with, the footage wouldn't have been able to be played. That's how these [digital video records] are designed."
At the end of a two-hour session, Judge Abdel Salam Gomaa adjourned the hearing until today, when evidence will be presented by Heba el Iraqi, an Egyptian forensic expert who analysed Mr el Sokari's DNA. Dr el Iraqi testified at the original trial, which started in October 2008 and ended on May 21 last year with the conviction of the two men, and a sentence of hanging. The defendants' appeal was granted on March 4.
Mr el Sokari and Mr Moustafa, who remain in prison, attended the retrial in white prison jumpsuits. The bench ordered Saeed Ali Ahly, a Dubai Police prosecutor who investigated the case, to testify this month, at the request of the defendants' lawyers, and requested the presentation of a report about the fingerprints of Alex Kazaki, of the Bond Real Estate company, from whom Tamim bought her flat.
Mr Kazaki was investigated and detained by Dubai Police but was released after officers tracked Mr el Sokari through clothes that carried his DNA as well as Tamim's blood. nmagd@thenational.ae
