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LISA MULLINS: A verdict in a Cairo court last week provoked a commotion not only in the courthouse but all across Egypt. An Egyptian tycoon and a former security officer were sentenced to hang for the murder of a Lebanese singer. The verdict surprised a lot of people. It's not that the evidence wasn't sufficient enough for a conviction; there were tapes of phone conversations, there was a positive DNA test, and video from a security camera. Still, Egyptians were stunned that someone so wealthy and powerful would not get away with murder. From Cairo, Aya Batrawy has more.

AYA BATRAWY: The story began four years ago when Hisham Talaat Moustafa met the popular Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim. The two began an affair. Journalist Nadia Abou el-Magd explains that at the time, Moustafa was one of the most powerful men in Egypt.

NADIA ABOU EL-MAGD: Many people say that he is number three in the country, after the President and his son. He's very prominent businessman, one of the richest, a senior member in the National Democratic Party, which is headed by President Mubarak. So he's very well-connected politically and financially.

BATRAWY: According to the prosecution, the trouble began when Tamim ended the affair and took up with an Iraqi boxer. The prosecution says Moustafa became incensed and paid a former State security officer $2 million dollars to kill Tamim in her luxury apartment in Dubai. The trial lasted seven months. Last week, the two men were found guilty and were sentenced to death. The mood in the courtroom was chaotic after the verdict was read. Shares in Moustafa's real estate company dropped 18 percent on the Egyptian stock market. The verdict has dominated the news here, in part because of the sense here that the elite are rarely, if ever, held accountable. In the days after the ruling, there's been debate about whether Moustafa's case signals a change in the way things work in Egypt. But lawyer Tabo Elnaser says he doesn't think the ruling is a sign of a government push for broader accountability.

TABO ELNASER: Talaat Mustafa's case was specific because it was a crime committed outside of Egypt and it had little to do with business. On the contrary – we are moving towards one thing, and that is the protection of businessmen in Egypt, since money plays the biggest role now.

BATRAWY: Others are equally pessimistic. Wael Nawara is a business writer and a co-founder of Egypt's opposition party Ghad. He maintains the government prosecuted Moustafa in large part because of pressure from the United Arab Emirates, where the murder took place.

WAEL NAWARA: In the way, it's suicidal for the regime to protect a person like that. So every now and then they are prepared to give a sacrifice to media, to the people, to say that we are transparent. But everyone knows this is one out of 100 people.

BATRAWY: The case still needs to be reviewed by Egypt's top Muslim cleric. Moustafa's lawyer says he plans to appeal the verdict. For The World, I'm Aya Batrawy, in Cairo.

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