CAIRO: An Egyptian appeal court upheld a 15-year prison sentence for property tycoon and ex-politician Hesham Talaat Moustafa for his role in the murder of a Lebanese singer, ending his three-year battle to avoid jail, a judicial source said.

The former member of parliament and ex-chairman of property firm Talaat Moustafa Group was found guilty in 2009 of paying an Egyptian security man to kill Suzanne Tamim, and sentenced to death by hanging.

The verdict was commuted to 15 years in prison after a retrial in 2010 but Moustafa challenged it before the appeal court.

A life sentence for the security man, Muhsen el-Sukkari, was also upheld, the court ruled late on Monday.