DUBAI // Police say they are close to arresting the killer of Suzan Tamim, the Lebanese pop singer who was found murdered in her apartment last week. "Our investigation remains ongoing but the net is drawing tighter and we expect a result soon," said a Dubai police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. No one has been charged with the killing but police have questioned several witnesses.
Tamim's body was found by a cousin and a police officer on Monday night, in the living room of her Jumeirah Beach Residence apartment. Neighbours said she had hosted a party the previous night. Police confirmed that the body was still in Dubai. Previously, police said that no members of Tamim's family were in Dubai. However, Robert Safri, her manager for three years, said the singer's husband was in the city to co-operate with the police.
On Friday, Lebanon's justice ministry, acting on orders from Fouad Siniora, the Lebanese prime minister, asked Interpol officials in Dubai to pass on all the information they gathered regarding the murder of the 31-year-old singer. Ibrahim Najjar, the Lebanese justice minister, said in a statement that "judicial authorities have requested the information from Dubai Interpol over the killing of Suzan Tamim in order to conduct an investigation".
Tamim stopped singing about a year ago and moved to Dubai earlier this year, according to the Lebanese media, which had reported there was discord between her and her husband, Adel Maatouk. In a statement, Mr Maatouk said the couple's disagreements and judicial disputes had taken place in an atmosphere of "respect". He had wanted his wife to stop singing and devote her time to the family after their marriage, the statement read.
He accused Tamim's family of telling her to flee Lebanon against his will and said that they bore the "responsibility for what happened to her". On Wednesday, police sources revealed that a security guard on duty at Tamim's Rimal 1 block the day she was murdered had given a description of a man who had demanded to know the number of her apartment. @Email:shafez@thenational.ae
