Egyptian construction magnate Hesham Talaat Moustafa was sentenced to death on Thursday for the murder of Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim in Dubai, court sources said.

Moustafa, former chairman of the Talaat Moustafa Group and a prominent politician, had been accused of paying security man Muhsen el-Sukkari $2 million to stab Tamim to death at her house in Dubai on July 28.

Sukkari was also sentenced to death in the case, and the men's files were referred to Egyptian religious authorities for review, as normal in capital cases in Egypt.

The arrest of Moustafa in September, after weeks of speculation about the case, hit Talaat Moustafa shares. They closed on Wednesday at 5.03 Egyptian pounds ($0.89) per share, off a year low of 2.52 pounds hit in March.

The indictment had accused Sukkari of killing Tamim after tricking her into opening the door of her Dubai apartment by posing as a representative of the building owners. He then attacked her with a knife.

It accused Moustafa of participating in the crime through "incitement, agreement and assistance" in the killing.

The evidence included tape recordings of telephone calls between Moustafa and Sukkari, security video footage from the Dubai apartment and DNA from the bloodied clothes that Sukkari was accused of leaving close to the scene of the crime.

Moustafa, who was born in 1959, gave up the chairmanship of the Talaat Moustafa Group to his brother Tarek. Tamim, who died at the age of 30, rose to fame after winning the top prize in a television show in 1996. - Reuters