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Egypt bans coverage of singer's Suzanne Tamim murder

Associated Press 

CAIRO–Egypt has banned news coverage of the brutal slaying of a Lebanese pop star while media reports in other regional papers are reporting a wealthy Egyptian entrepreneur ordered three men to carry out the killing.

Singer Suzanne Tamim, 31, was found stabbed to death last month in Dubai, a Persian Gulf emirate.

Some media say she was decapitated; others that she was mutilated. Her killing has been a top story in Arab media, but Egypt's chief prosecutor Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud banned coverage.

Yesterday, the editor of an Egyptian independent newspaper was questioned by prosecutors for violating the ban with a Sunday edition story on Tamim's death. Authorities barred distribution of the edition, but the article remained on the paper's website.

Al-Dustour, an Arabic-language daily, carried a front-page article quoting unidentified sources as saying a former Egyptian police officer and two hotel security men from Cairo had confessed to killing Tamim in Dubai on behalf of a wealthy Egyptian businessman.

It did not identify the Egyptian.

Some copies of the edition appeared on the stands late Saturday before distribution was halted.

Other newspapers and media outside Egypt have reported the same allegations about the confessions, but Al-Dustour was the first outlet within Egypt to attempt to do so.

Al-Dustour executive editor Ibrahim Mansour said prosecutors questioned him on suspicion of violating the ban and ordered two journalists from the paper to report for questioning today. It was not clear if any would face charges.

"This is pure intimidation of the press. The public is entitled to know," Mansour said.

Other Egyptian papers reported on the ban and complained the government was trying to prevent the implication of any prominent figures. Wealthy men have taken an increasingly large role in the government and ruling party in the past 10 years.

"They are becoming immune," wrote columnist Hamdi Rizq in the independent Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper. "The regime helps them get out of disasters and whitewashes them."

Dubai's acting police chief, Mattar Al-Mazeina, said Saturday that a 39-year-old Arab man was arrested in another Arab country in connection with Tamim's death.

He said the suspect fled the United Arab Emirates 90 minutes after the killing, but police tracked him down with the help of evidence collected at the scene. He refused to identify the man or say where he was arrested.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, Egyptian security officials, not authorized to speak, said authorities have detained a man in the case at the request of UAE officials.