GUN VIOLENCE IN AMERICA: FOR WHO THE BELL TOLLS NEXT.

Just five people shy of Sandy Hook elementary school mass shooting incident that claimed 26 lives, the Uvalde Texas Robb elementary school mass shooting at 21 victims, now ranks among the highest grossing gun carnage in America. It is sad that such frequent blood spilling has tragically become part of our culture as a society. May the souls of the killed now rest.

25th AMENDMENT: ITS NOW ALL CRICKET.

Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi once questioned former President Donald John Trump's fitness to remain in office due to what she claimed was his declining mental capacity. Does anyone know what Madam Speaker presently thinks about the incontrovertible case which America is now saddled with? Just curious!

WHO WILL REBUILD UKRAINE?

The West should convert frozen Russian assets, both state's and oligarchs' owned, into a full seizure and set them aside for the future rebuilding of Ukraine. Like the Marshal Plan, call it the Putin Plan.

A HERO IS BORN.

I am staying put. I will not run away and abandon my people. The fight is here in Ukraine. What I need are weapons and ammunitions, not a ride out of town like former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani - President Volodymyr Zelensky.

IT IS WHAT IT IS.

"There is too much hate in America because there is too much anger in America." - Trevor Noah.

WORD!

A life without challenges is not a life lived at all. A life lived is a life that has problems, confronts problems, solves problems and then learns from problems. - Tunde Fashola.

NOW, YOU KNOW.

When fishing for love, bait with your heart and not your brain, because you cannot rationalize love. - Mark Twain.

JUST THE FACT.

In our country, you can shoot and kill a nigger, but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings - Dave Chappelle

DO YOU?.

“What you believe in can only be defined by what you’re willing to risk for it." - Stuart Scheller.

HEDGE YOUR CRISIS.

Never get in bed with a woman whose problems are worse than yours. - Chicago PD.

PROBLEM SOLVED.

'The best way to keep peace is to be ready to destroy evil. If you Pearl Harbor me, I Nagasaki you.' - Ted Nugent.

OUR SHARED HUMANITY.

Empathy is at the heart of who we are as human beings. - Cardinal Matthew Kukah.

WORDS ON MARBLE.

"Birth is agony. Life is hard. Death is cruel." - Japanese pithy.

REPENT OR PERISH - POPE.

Homosexuality is a sin. It is not ordained by God, therefore same sex marriage cannot be blessed by the church - Pope Francis.

CANCEL CULTURE IS CORROSIVE.


FOR SAKE OF COUNTRY.


MAGA LIVES ON: NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER!

TWITTER IS BORING WITHOUT HIS TWEETS. #RestorePresidentTrump'sTwitterHandle.


WORD.

"If you cannot speak the truth when it matters, then nothing else you says matters.” - Tucker Carlson.

#MeToo MOVEMENT: A BAD NEWS GONE CRAZY.

"To all the women who testified, we may have different truth, but I have a great remorse for all of you. I have great remorse for all of the men and women going through this crisis right now in our country. You know, the movement started basically with me, and I think what happened, you know, I was the first example, and now there are thousands of men who are being accused and a regeneration of things that I think none of us understood. I’m not going to say these aren’t great people. I had wonderful times with these people. I’m just genuinely confused. Men are confused about this issue. We are going through this #MeToo movement crisis right now in this country." - Harvey Weinstein.


RON DELLUMS: UNAPOLOGETICALLY RADICAL.

"If it’s radical to oppose the insanity and cruelty of the Vietnam War, if it’s radical to oppose racism and sexism and all other forms of oppression, if it’s radical to want to alleviate poverty, hunger, disease, homelessness, and other forms of human misery, then I’m proud to be called a radical.” - Ron Vernie Dellums.


WHAT REALLY MATTERS IN LIFE - STEVE JOBS

“I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In others’ eyes, my life is an epitome of success. However, aside from work, I have little joy. Non-stop pursuing of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being, just like me. God gave us the senses to let us feel the love in everyone’s heart, not the illusions brought about by wealth. Memories precipitated by love is the only true riches which will follow you, accompany you, giving you strength and light to go on. The most expensive bed in the world is the sick bed. You can employ someone to drive the car for you, make money for you but you cannot have someone to bear sickness for you. Material things lost can be found. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost – Life. Treasure Love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends. Treat yourself well. Cherish others.” - SJ

EVIL CANNOT BE TRULY DESTROYED.

"The threat of evil is ever present. We can contain it as long as we stay vigilant, but it can never truly be destroyed. - Lorraine Warren (Annabelle, the movie)


ONLY THE POOR WISH THEY HAD STUFF?

“I’m not that interested in material things. As long as I find a good bed that I can sleep in, that’s enough.” - Nicolas Berggruem, the homeless billionaire.

Friday, May 22, 2009

HISHAM TALAAT MUSTAFA, AN EGYPTIAN-BILLIONAIRE MURDERER!

He is an Egyptian billionaire real estate tycoon! He ordered a hit on his former paramour, a Lebanese pop singer! He was tried and convicted for her murder! His sentence, DEATH! The verdict is however subject to an immediate review by the religious Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, who is expected to act by June 25, 2009. Icheoku says, for prosecuting this case to a logical conclusion, the Egyptian judiciary has proved itself to be above board and as not having a price-tag? Worthy of particular mention is the judge of the Bab Al-Khalq criminal court who rendered the verdict, Judge Mohamed El-Qenesowa, pictured here left.
In many other countries of the world, his money, influence and political connections would have purchased him extra legs to walk away from justice, a free man; assuming he is even prosecuted! In Nigeria for example, so many people have been murdered and in some cases by known high and powerful people; yet nobody has ever been held accountable for these crimes?
A member of the National Democratic Party which has held a vice-like grip on power in Egypt since the 1970s, Convict Hisham Talaat Mustafa, 50, was a member of parliament of the Egyptian upper house, the Shura? Mustafa, pictured here right, is reputed to be one one of Egypt's richest men, and as member of the Egyptian elite high and powerful, had ties to the son of Egyptian president, Gamal Mubarak? It was however, before the verdict, being speculated that but for the insistence of the authorities in Dubai-United Arab Emirates, that he be prosecuted for the murder that the murder charge would have been squashed because of the convict's connections. Whether the president will pull some strings or use his executive powers to commute or suspend the sentence will be determined in due course; but President Hosni Mubarak should know that the whole world is watching and waiting for justice to take its course in this case; and he must not constitute himself a clog in its wheels. Kudos to the Egyptian judge, who courageously rendered this verdict without fear or intimidation of the high and powerful?
Mustafa was found guilty of murder for hire:- he had paid £1.3 million ($2 million) to a hotel security guard and former policeman, Mohsen el-Sukkari, to kill the Lebanese star Suzanne Tamin, 31. Miss Tamin, pictured left, rose to fame in the Arab world, in 1996, after winning an Egyptian Pop Idol show, - the Studio al Fan talent show. Mustafa was caught talking about the killing on "state security eavesdropping tapes." Icheoku says this is one example where warrant-less wire-taping worked for some positive results? The question remains, were it in America, would such evidence withstand judicial test of muster - the legality of how it was obtained? This is akin to a case of beauty and the beast, and now the beauty have ended up in the belly of the beast; who shall in due course hang for his crimes against a beauty queen impresario? An eye for an eye, may be?
Miss Tamin, the victim was found severally stabbed with her throat slit in her high rise luxury Dubai-United Arab Emirate apartment in July 28, 2009. The twice-divorced Miss Tamin was having an affair with Mustafa, a married real estate entrepreneur? When she ended the relationship, she moved to London where she met and married her third husband, an Iraqi-born world kick-boxing champion, Riyadh Alazzawi? Mr Alazzawi alleged that he had received threats from Moustafa demanding he give her Tamin or be killed; also that Moustafa had offered Tamin $50 million to leave him, Alazzawi?
The knife-welding assailant, El-Sukkari, worked as head of security at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt which Moustafa built; and had travelled to Dubai last July to carry out the dastardly murder. His DNA was found on clothes inside the victim's apartment and he was captured entering the Dubai apartment complex on the day of the murder by an on-site security camera? The murder-weapon, a knife allegedly used in the killing was also recovered. There was also a footprint found on the crime-scene which matched a shoe recently bought using al-Sukkari's credit card? Eavesdropped telephone conversations between El-Sukkari and Mustafa, wherein Mustafa was telling El-Sukkari, pictured bottom right, to throw his former lover off her balcony was tendered in evidence and supplied whatever missing link left of their culpability? The case which commenced on october 18, 2008, arrived at a decision seven months later!
His lawyer, Samir al-Shishtawi, called the ruling "severe" and said he expected it would be overturned on appeal? Icheoku says, what a consolatory statement made by an over-priced lawyer, trying to pallicate his unsatisfied, convicted client! It is only corruption on a grand scale that could change the verdict of death, based on overwhelming evidence of the prosecution.

Whatever the review, Icheoku says with the adduced mountain of evidence, the only rational outcome of such a review that is possible, is to affirm the verdict and order the immediate carrying out of the sentence forthwith! There was a murder victim; the murderer has confessed; the murder-weapon was recovered; the security camera's captured image of the killer is riveting; the shoe foot-print; and the mother of all evidence - the telephone conversation admission! Conclusion, affirm and execute the sentence as any other "strange" decision will be interpreted for what it is, procured!

1 comment:

  1. "The court orders that the documents of the two defendants, Hisham Talaat Mustafa and Mohsen El-Sukkari, be referred to the Grand Mufti," said the judge as he made a historic ruling amidst the shock of all who were present at the Bab Al-Khalq criminal court on Thursday. The defendant's files were referred to the Grand Mufti for review, as is normal in death sentences in Egypt. The mufti is scheduled to make the ruling official on 25 June.

    Billionaire business tycoon Mustafa was found guilty of conspiring to kill Lebanese pop singer Suzanne Tamim, and former State Security officer El-Sukkari was found guilty of committing the grisly murder.

    The verdict, while it may have pleased the public, nevertheless stunned. Not only is Mustafa a multi-billionaire but was a member of the Policies Committee of the ruling National Democratic Party, deputy chairman of the Shura Council's Economic Committee, and is reputed to have been close to chairman of the NDP Policies Committee Gamal Mubarak. Seldom has someone so close to the echelons of power faced capital punishment since there is widespread belief in the country that the rich and powerful can literally get away with murder.

    Tamim was murdered on 28 July in an exclusive residential compound in Dubai. El-Sukkari said Mustafa, the former chairman of the Talaat Mustafa Group, paid him $2 million for the contract killing. The billionaire property developer, a member of the Shura Council, was arrested on 2 September, following the lifting of his parliamentary immunity. The trial opened on 18 October last year amidst a media frenzy in Egypt and across the Middle East.

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

    Mustafa is said to have taken out the contract on Tamim's life after she ended their three-year affair.

    The prosecution had said El-Sukkari bought a knife, then headed to Tamim's apartment at the Jumeira Beach Residence complex. Disguised as a worker belonging to the apartment's service company he showed Tamim a false ID over the video intercom and she let him in. Once inside her flat he knocked her to the floor and slashed her throat. El-Sukkari then threw his bloodstained clothes in a trash can next to the fire escape below Tamim's apartment and left the building. Dubai police found little difficulty in collecting DNA samples from the abandoned clothes and pictures of El-Sukkari were captured on the building's CCTV cameras.

    As the verdict was announced Mustafa had an expressionless look and did not utter a word while all hell broke loose around him in the jammed courtroom. Mustafa's two daughters burst into hysteric tears after the ruling and his sister passed out. Dozens of cameramen and journalists hurried towards the caged dock frantically shoving one other and jockeying for postion to get a comment from Mustafa, but more policemen surrounded Mustafa as we he was escorted out of the court. The pandemonium caused cameras to drop, people scream, and a few nearly faint.

    El-Sukkari's relatives attacked journalists both verbally and physically. "Get out you bunch of worthless people that live by people's miseries," one of them said as he pushed a female journalist to the floor and punched a TV broadcaster. Policemen frantically ordered everyone to leave the courtroom immediately.

    The ruling was announced at 9am but the media was present since dawn as were security officials of all ranks. Inside the courtroom security was tight and cell phones were not allowed. Journalists were searched three times before entering the courtroom, where Mustafa and El-Sukkari sat in two separate, caged docks.

    The case, which had all elements of a soap opera ñ wealth, power and violence, may not be over. Mustafa's lawyer, Farid El-Deeb, announced his intention to contest the ruling.

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