Popular Lebanese singer found dead.

Dubai: A Lebanese singing star was found stabbed to death in her Dubai Marina apartment.

Suzan Abdul Sattar Tamim was also disfigured by her attacker. Dubai Police said the 31-year-old singer was stabbed several hours before her body was discovered.

Police had received a report from one of her relatives who lived in Sharjah, and went to her apartment at Burj Al Remal building in Dubai Marina Monday night where they discovered her body. Suzan had been living alone in the building for the past eight months. A former winner of the Lebanese talent show Studio Al Fan in 1996, Suzan enjoyed many hit singles during her early career.

A cleaner at Dubai Marina told Gulf News that Suzan came back to her apartment late at night with some friends. The cleaner said he heard noises later in the evening but was surprised when he heard this morning that she had been fatally stabbed.

Troubled marriages

Suzan spent most of her short life between courts, police stations and hideouts. Her problems started with a long and unexplained absence period that she spent in France, even before her first short marriage to Ali Muzannar and their divorce in 2002.

Shortly after her divorce, Suzan met the man who would become her second husband, Adel Matouk. She was introduced to Matouk by star maker Simone Asmar, director of Studio Al Fan, who asked Matouk to take care of her.

Matouk took care of Suzan's 10-year contract with Asmar, and started an extensive campaign to re-launch her music career with his company, Arab-European Production. He also signed a 15-year exclusive contract with the singer.

Less than eight months later, problems erupted between the couple. Matouk asked his wife to stop signing and become a housewife, which she refused. He obtained a court order banning Suzan from travelling outside Lebanon.