Suzanne Tamim (, September 23, 1977 – July 28, 2008) was a Lebanese singer who rose to fame in the

Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

after winning the top prize in the popular '' Studio El Fan'' television show in 1996. She was murdered in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

in July 2008.

Biography

Tamim's career was marred by rumours of a troubled private life. Her first husband was Ali Muzannar. She remarried to a Lebanese

impresario An impresario (from Italian ''impresa'', 'an enterprise or undertaking') is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, Play (theatre), plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film producer, film or ...

and producer Adel Matouk, who became her manager.

Musical career

She won a gold medal on '' Studio El Fan''. Tamim's last album was produced in 2002 by Rotana and called ''Saken Alby''. It went on to establish sales records. Her last song, "Lovers", recorded in 2006, was dedicated to the memory of slain Lebanese Prime Minister

Rafik Hariri Rafic Bahaa El Deen al-Hariri (; 1 November 1944 – 14 February 2005) was a Lebanese businessman and politician who served as prime minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 to 2004. Hariri headed five cabinets during his tenu ...

Death

Suzanne Tamim was found murdered in her apartment in

on July 28, 2008. Although it was reported that she had been

beheaded Decapitation is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and all vertebrate animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood by way of severing through the jugular vein and common c ...

, the lawyer of her former husband revealed that her

death certificate A death certificate is either a legal document issued by a medical practitioner which states when a person died, or a document issued by a government civil registration office, that declares the date, location and cause of a person's death, a ...

indicates her throat was slit. At the time of her death, she had reportedly been married to Iraqi-born British

kickboxing Kickboxing ( ) is a full-contact hybrid Martial arts, martial art and Boxing (disambiguation), boxing type based on punch (combat), punching and kicking. Kickboxing originated in the 1950s to 1970s. The fight takes place in a boxing ring, norma ...

champion Riyadh Al-Azzawi for about 18 months.

Murder trials

On September 2, 2008, prominent Egyptian businessman and lawmaker in the

Shura Council In Arab culture, a Majlis-ash-Shura (; Shura Council in English) is an advisory council or consultative council. In Islamic context, the Majlis-ash-Shura is one of two ways that a khalifa (Islamic leader) may be selected, the other way being b ...

, Hisham Talaat Moustafa was arrested in Cairo. The son of Egyptian conglomerate tycoon Talaat Mostafa, Hisham Moustafa was charged with paying a

hitman Contract killing (also known as murder-for-hire) is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of compensation, moneta ...

, Mohsen al-Sukkari, to have Tamim killed. On May 21, 2009, Moustafa and al-Sukkari were found guilty of Tamim's murder and sentenced to death by

hanging Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

in Cairo. An Egyptian court confirmed their sentences on June 25, 2009. However, on March 4, 2010, the

Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt The Supreme Constitutional Court (, ''Al Mahkama Al Dustūrīya El ‘Ulyā'') is an independent judicial body in Egypt, located in the Cairo suburb of Maadi. The Supreme Constitutional Court is the highest judicial authority in the Arab Republi ...

threw out the convictions and sentences against the two convicts and ordered their

retrial A new trial or retrial is a recurrence of a court case. A new trial may potentially be ordered for some or all of the matters at issue in the original trial. Depending upon the rules of the jurisdiction and the decision of the court that ordered ...

on a

legal technicality The term legal technicality is a casual or colloquial phrase referring to a technical aspect of law. The phrase is not a term of art in the law; it has no exact meaning, nor does it have a legal definition. In public perception, it typically re ...

. After the retrial, Moustafa was sentenced to 15 years. His co-defendant, al-Sukkari, had his sentence reduced to

life in prison Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life imprisonment are co ...

. Al-Sukkari, the alleged hitman, was a 39-year-old former policeman from Egypt. He was arrested as the alleged murderer in early August in Cairo. Al-Sukkari, whose name was being withheld, was said to have died in police custody soon after his arrest; however, the police subsequently produced him publicly. The alleged killer—who had apparently confessed to the murder—denied any connection to her death. Al-Sukkari was subsequently indicted, along with Moustafa, on charges of murder and for allegedly receiving $2 million from Moustafa for the killing. On May 23, 2020 Egypt's president

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil El-Sisi (born 19 November 1954) is an Egyptian politician and retired military officer who has been serving as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014. After the 2011 Egyptian revolution and 201 ...

pardoned thousands of prisoners including Al-Sukkari, according to the official gazette, on the occasion of

Eid al-Fitr Eid al-Fitr () is the first of the two main Islamic holidays, festivals in Islam, the other being Eid al-Adha. It falls on the first day of Shawwal, the tenth month of the Islamic calendar. Eid al-Fitr is celebrated by Muslims worldwide becaus ...

holiday marking end of Muslim fasting month of

Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...

. Although Egyptian newspapers initially reported freely about the death, once the case was linked to the businessman the

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

's office forbade reporting about the case. An edition of a newspaper that defied the order was confiscated. Five Egyptian journalists were also charged with breaching the

gag order A gag order (also known as a gagging order or suppression order) is an order, typically a legal order by a court or government, restricting information or comment from being made public or passed on to any unauthorized third party. The phrase may ...

during the trial.

In fiction

Her murder inspired the Swedish noir film ''

The Nile Hilton Incident ''The Nile Hilton Incident'' ( ''Hadith Alnayl Hiylton'') is a 2017 Swedish thriller film directed by Tarik Saleh. It was screened in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. It was awarded the World Cine ...

''.

References