The family of a slain Lebanese pop diva has dropped its lawsuit against an Egyptian real estate moghul and former policeman accused of her murder, a judicial official said.

The parents and brother "signed before a Lebanese notary to halt proceedings against Hisham Talaat Mustafa and Mohsen Al Sukkari in the case of Suzanne Tamim, who was murdered in July 2008 in Dubai," the official was quoted as saying in our sister publication, the Gulf Daily News.

They also signed formal notices informing both the judge of the Cairo criminal court where the pair are being tried and the Lebanese Foreign Ministry of their decision.

The family filed suit in February last year accusing Mustafa of killing Tamim and asking for justice.

They said its previous statement to the court that accused Mustafa of "inciting the murder of Suzanne Tamim is an unfounded assumption," according to the same judicial source.

"We have completely abandoned this erroneous assumption and we will take necessary legal steps" to withdraw the lawsuit, they wrote according to the official who was speaking on condition of anonymity.

"So each of us confirms that we are waiving our civil suit in this case," the family added, according to the official.

The family's lawyer Nagib Lyane declined to comment, while officials of the Lebanese Foreign and Justice ministries were not immediately available to confirm the decision.

The Egyptian businessman was arrested in September last year for allegedly ordering Al Sukkari to kill his ex-lover Tamim.

He was accused of paying the ex-policeman $2 million to cut the throat of his one-time lover in July 2008 in her luxury Dubai apartment Tamim had bought months before her murder.

In May 2009, a court sentenced the pair to death by hanging in a verdict that shocked Egypt, especially since Mustafa was an associate of President Hosni Mubarak's son GAMAL and sat on the ruling party's policies committee.

At the time of the lower court ruling, Abdel Sattar Tamim, the singer's father, said the family was satisfied with the verdict.

He said they were awaiting the approval of Egypt's mufti, or Sunni religious leader.

An appeals court overturned the convictions in March this year and ordered a retrial, citing procedural errors. – TradeArabia News Service