Beirut: White flowers, rice, rose petals, cries and sobs...Lebanese singer, Suzan Tamim was buried yesterday in Beirut.
The body of the slain singer was repatriated from Dubai the same morning.
Around eleven o'clock on Monday, the narrow street leading to Suzan Tamim's house in Aicha Bakkar, an area in the heart of Beirut, was blocked.
The pavements were teeming with people who came from the whole neighbourhood. Some moved by a young woman's death came to pay tribute to the family of the murdered singer, but others, a lot more, were just there to watch...
A roaring siren announces the arrival of the funeral procession from Beirut airport. The first car is a white hearse decorated with white flowers and white tulle. It is followed by several cars, among them a black four-wheel drive in which are Suzan Tamim's father Abdul Sattar and and brother Khalil. They went last Friday to Dubai to bring the body home.
On the street there was also a "zaffa" group. A dozen of men wearing white abayas and carrying musical instruments, like flutes, drums and tambourines. These men sing, play music and dance on special occasions, like marriages.
Lifeless body
But yesterday, they were waiting on the pavement not for a bride to come home but for a lifeless body.
The siren roars, the music of the zaffa group begins to play while the coffin wrapped in the green and yellow flag of Islam is taken out from the hearse. Women start to throw rice and rose petals. Some people scream, other sob loudly. Among them Suzan's father who follows his daughter's coffin inside the house gulping: "She wanted to come back to Beirut, here she is". People on the pavement, even those who came to watch, have tears in their eyes. Some of them follow the mourners home, where only the close family gathered.
Susan Tamim's family house is situated in an old and typical Beirutee building constructed in the first half of the last century. The house's entrance is decorated with bouquets of white flowers and white tulle. On the main door, a giant portrait of the singer is hanging.
The inside of the house has been transformed into a garden. White bouquets of flowers - as well as Suzan's giant portraits - are everywhere.
The family, except the murdered singer's mother, surrounds the coffin placed in the living room. Suzan's mother and father have been separated for a long time, since the singer was a child. The singer's mother is on bad terms with her ex-husband and his family. So even if she was very close to her daughter she did not attend the funeral.
Members of the family sob above the coffin, while Suzan's two aunts, tired by days of sadness, sit on a sofa, in front of the casket. One of them shouts: "God help the one who killed you and those who instigated the crime. God help those who were the reason for your sadness". She catches her breath and continues: "Here you are again among us. You came back just like you wanted to".
Suzan's father shouts: "They are all liars, they said that my daughter was disfigured, that she was mutilated...They are all liars. I saw her in Dubai, her face was intact, she had her eyes wide open, as if she was alive...She is an angel".
Suzan's paternal grand-mother says among two heavy sighs. "Suzan was always beautiful, and this how she remained after her death".
Then, it was time, to take the coffin out of the house.
Again the zaffa group started singing, dancing and playing music. Some threw rose petals and rice. Before putting it in the hearse, the men carrying the coffin spin around and around, in a strange dance of death.
Two hours later in the biggest Sunnite cemetery of Beirut the men of the family are receiving condolences. The funeral gathered few people.
In a remote corner, undertakers are putting away an empty light wooden coffin. It looks strange, like a box used for freight. On one of its sides, a sentence is written in black ink: "Lebanese citizen, Suzan Abdul Sattar Tamim, passport number 2202424, Dubai-Beirut".
