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Lawyer feared for singer's life on London visit
Suzan Tamim's lawyer has revealed in a television interview she felt the singer was in danger when she went to visit her in London last year.
- By Dina Aboul Hosn, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:23 August 5, 2008
- Suzan Tamim was murdered last Monday in her luxury Dubai Marina apartment.
- Image Credit: AP
Dubai: Suzan Tamim's lawyer has revealed in a television interview she felt the singer was in danger when she went to visit her in London last year.
The Lebanese singer was murdered last Monday in her luxury Dubai Marina apartment.
In an interview with Jaras TV advocate Carla Al Rumaili said she was denied access by Suzan's "bodyguard", Riad Al Azzawi, a British national of Iraqi origin.
"Riad refused to let me see Suzan or speak to her. He even refused to let her mother, who accompanied me on the trip, see her," Carla said.
"I told him I needed to see her urgently because of pending lawsuits in Lebanon that we needed to discuss, but he told me to go back to Lebanon and sort them out.
"I said her mother and I were willing to meet him instead to discuss these issues, but he also refused," Carla said.
So the two went back to Lebanon without meeting Suzan, who had earlier called Carla and asked her to come to London, according to the lawyer.
"I could not hide my fear from her mother. I told her I was worried. I mean, who is he to stop us from seeing her? He's only a bodyguard!
"And, why did she ask us to go there and then change her phone numbers and leave it to the bodyguard to deal with us?" Carla wondered.
After Suzan's death last week, Al Azzawi reportedly claimed he was her husband.
The lawyer, who said she was a good friend of Suzan, did not hide her dissatisfaction with the behaviour of Suzan's father.
She said Suzan's mother was shut out of her life and death.
Her father prevented her from seeing her mother when she was a child, and prevented the mother from attending her funeral, which was held on Monday.
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