DUBAI // Police say they are close to wrapping up their investigation into the murder of the Lebanese singer Suzan Tamim and would announce their findings as early as tomorrow. Police refused to say whether the suspected killer has been arrested, but confirmed that a British man is still in custody and is helping them with their inquiries. Dubai Police have sent fingerprints found at the murder scene of potential suspects to detectives in Beirut, according to Maj Gen Ashraf Rifi, head of the Internal Security Forces in Lebanon.
Media reports said three men who were close to Tamim - Riyadh al Azzawi, a Briton of Iraqi origin who claims to have been be her third husband; her cousin who discovered the body; and a British-Iraqi man who is said to have been in her flat on the day of the murder - are not considered suspects. Tamim's body was found in her Jumeirah Beach Residence flat on June 28 with multiple stab wounds to her face and body. Her remains were flown to her hometown, Beirut, where she was buried on Monday.
Speaking at the Tamim family home, the singer's father, Abdul Sattar Tamim, said: "It is a terrible thing for a father to hear; I would not wish it on anybody." He was clearly distraught as he sat down to talk and burst into tears several times while being interviewed. The garden of the house where Tamim grew up has been set up for mourning. Huge, glamorous portraits of the red-haired singer, one draped in lace, tower over white floral arrangements.
Mr Tamim said he had his suspicions about who killed his daughter but declined to elaborate, "in order not to damage the investigation. Let the police do their work now," he said. He last saw his daughter about 18 months ago when they did the Umra pilgrimage to Mecca together. She left Lebanon some six years ago and never dared to return because she feared her estranged husband and former business manager, Adel Maatouk, would prevent her from leaving again, Mr Tamim said.
"I blame the laws in Lebanon that give a husband that power over a wife. I did not want her to sing but I respected her choice. I gave her the freedom to follow her own path," he said. "I knew it would end this way," he said, adding that he had been worried about his daughter since she started her career at age 18. @Email:nsamaha@thenational.ae rabubaker@thenational.ae
