The First Circuit of the Cairo Administrative Court postponed Tuesday its decision on whether to release Egyptian businessman Hisham Talaat Mostafa on medical grounds, according to state media.
The decision was postponed to a session on 25 July, pending an investigation by experts on the validity of his medical situation.
The former business tycoon’s defence says that medical analysis proves he suffers from an amyloidal disease.
The court began reviewing the defendant’s medical case after an emergency release request was previously rejected in April.
Mostafa was first found guilty of the murder of Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim in 2009, when he was sentenced to death by hanging.
Mostafa was convicted of ordering and paying an Egyptian security man of killing the singer in a hotel in the UAE.
In a retrial, the sentence was commuted to 15 years in prison in 2010. The businessman’s defence appealed the ruling, but it was upheld by the appeals court in 2012, ending his three year battle to avoid prison. The security man who was hired by Mostafa was ultimately sentenced to life in prison.
Mostafa was mired in controversy, as allegations of corruption were also levelled against him in the media, particularly after the 2011 uprising.
Mostafa was a member of the National Democratic Party, the former ruling party of Hosni Mubarak, and was also a former member of parliament under the ousted president.
