A troubled Lebanese singer said to be hiding out in Dubai was found stabbed to death at her apartment on Tuesday, July 29.Suzan Tamim, the murdered Lebanese singer, was attacked by a professional killer who acted efficiently and quickly. Using a bogus letter from a property agent, the killer tricked Tamim into letting him into her apartment in the Jumeirah Beach Residence in Dubai, cut her throat, changed his clothing and left the complex in just 12 minutes.

Within 90 minutes he was out of the country according to Dubai police. An Egyptian newspaper mentioned the name of a VIP who ordered the killing spending more than 4 million Dollars to finance the operation. Sunday' (August 10) edition of Egyptian daily Al-Dostour was seized after it alleged an "important Egyptian figure" was involved in the brutal death of a Lebanese pop singer, the paper's editor said.

The seizure came amid reports that a man suspected of murdering Lebanese singer Tamim had been arrested in Egypt.
"The paper has been withdrawn from the market. It is nowhere, be it in Cairo or the rest of Egypt's governorates," said Ibrahim Mansour, the editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper.

"We have not been officially informed that the newspaper was seized but copies have been withdrawn from the market," he told AFP.

 

Mansour insisted that the sudden disappearance of the newspaper was linked to its front-page article on Sunday about Tamim's death in her up market Dubai apartment last month.

The identity of the Egyptian figure was not specified by the daily, which said the person was "highly influential" and "close to power" and Egyptian business circles.

Suzan Tamim, 31, shot to fame when she won the Lebanese talent show Studio Al-Fan (Art Studio) in 1996, and enjoyed many hit singles early in her career.

Her disfigured body was found in her upscale apartment at the Jumeirah Beach Residence towers in Dubai Marina late Monday night (August 4) and she had been stabbed several times.

The police had been contacted by concerned friends and family after they had not heard from the star in several days.

Tamim moved to Dubai from Cairo eight months ago to escape her husband and manager Adel Matouk.

The couple met in Paris and were married around six years ago, the second marriage for the talented young singer, according to Gulf News. It said problems erupted less than eight months later when Matouk asked her to stop singing and become a housewife, which she refused.

As the situation worsened, Matouk filed a lawsuit against Tamim caiming she stole $350,000 from his safe. He also accused her of trying to murder him, after the car he was driving came under gunfire in Lebanon in 2004.

Even prior to her marriages, Tamim is reported to have gone into hiding for several months for unexplained reasons. The star spent much of her short life between courts, police stations and hideouts.

Tamim had released two albums and was considered a rising star among a new generation of Lebanese pop singers.

A Briton also was being questioned by police last night in connection with the murder of Suzan Tamim. He man was being held in police custody following his arrest earlier this week.

Police sources indicates they are looking at more than one suspect and that one of the main lines of questioning for the man in custody is the whereabouts of a suspected accomplice in the killing.

The singer was buried in her home town of Beirut on Monday after her body was finally released and flown out of Dubai.

As the mystery behind Tamim's murder deepened, intriguing details continued to emerge about her private life.

Although at the time of her death she was still officially married to Adel Maatouk, her former Lebanese producer, an Iraqi kick-boxing champion living in the UK called Riyadh al Azzawi, held a press conference last weekend claiming he was also married to her and had lived with her in London for 18 months.

His brother Mohammed told The National that Mr Azzawi was distraught at the news of Tamim's death. He also confirmed his brother was still in London and had not attended the funeral, adding: "He is being comforted by friends and has already held a private service for Suzan in London on Friday."

Tamim was never far from controversy throughout her career. A graduate of the prestigious Studio Al Phan, an academy that nurtures aspiring singers in Lebanon, she signed a record deal in 1996.

Months later she faced allegations of being involved in a heroin smuggling ring with her father. In a separate incident she was accused of a plot to kill Mr Maatouk after gunmen opened fire on his car in a Beirut suburb. He escaped the shooting unharmed.