The family of Suzanne Tamim, the murdered Lebanese pop star, have dropped their civil claim against her alleged killers, according to numerous reports (The National, Reuters, AFP, etc).

Hisham Talat Mustafa, an Egyptian property magnate who is close to the Mubarak regime, was convicted of her murder last year along with a former state security officer. Mustafa, who is believed to have had an affair with Ms Tamim, allegedly paid the other man $2m to kill her.

Both men were sentenced to death, but a re-trial began in Egypt last week.

Because of his connections, it is widely expected the Mustafa will not in fact be executed. The only really interesting question is what legal device will be found in order to spare him.

Last October there were moves in the Egyptian parliament tochange the law and allow blood money to be paid in murder cases. Rumours at the time said Mustafa was prepared to pay Ms Tamim's family $125 million.

Her family's decision to drop civil proceedings – and they are insisting that no money has changed hands in return for this – should not directly affect the re-trial but the relevant papers are due to be presented to the criminal court, so it may have some influence.

We shall see.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 30 May 2010.