Cairo - Just months after an Egyptian business tycoon was charged in the murder of a Lebanese singer, Egyptian society has been riveted by another high-profile murder involving a famous singer.

Egyptian police found the body of Heba al-Akkad, the daughter of a Moroccan pop star, in an affluent Cairo suburb last week. She had been brutally murdered. The death has set off a firestorm of media coverage.

Like the case of Suzanne Tamim, a Lebanese singer allegedly killed on the orders of Egyptian businessman Hisham Talaat Moustafa, the furor surrounding the case of al-Akkad exposes tensions within the country's majority-Muslim society over social values.

Some newspapers have sought to portray al-Akkad, 23,the daughter of Moroccan pop star Leila Ghofran, as a wild party girl. Some papers even suggested that the murder happened because of al-Akkad's lifestyle.

According to Middle Eastern social standards, young women should live with their families until marriage. Al-Akkad did live alone. At the time of her death was visiting the apartment of a friend, Nadine Khalid, 22, who also lived alone. Young women who violate these social conventions often face strong criticism from society.

Relatives of the victim have formed a group on the social networking site Facebook to protest her treatment in the newspapers.

Lana al-Sannawy, a friend of al-Akkad told the Deutsche Presse- Agentur, dpa that she is annoyed by "the fallacies she found in the newspapers."

"Why won't they leave her to rest in peace?" al-Sennawy asked, criticizing the ruthless media reports that made al-Akkad appear like a criminal instead of a victim of a murder.

"Reading what's written in the newspapers, which is totally irrelevant, makes it even harder. Isn't being killed a great sorrow for whoever knew them?" read a statement on the Facebook group.

Newspapers have also printed in graphic detail the circumstances of the crime, echoing prior cases which Egyptian papers and TV stations seemed to treat as entertainment.

The alleged killer, Mohammed Abdel Sami, a 20-year old construction worker, reportedly traveled from the poor neighbourhood of Rod al-Farag to the affluent Sheikh Zid district around 11 pm Wednesday to steal. He waited for six hours under a tree before entering Khalid's apartment through the kitchen window, the independent Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry al-Yourm newspaper reported

He apparently worked at a site near the apartment. According to the newspaper, Sami needed money to get married.

Allegedly, Sami stabbed Khalid before searching for valuables. He then fiercely stabbed al-Akkad, the paper reported

Al-Akkad died of bleeding from the throat, according to security reports.

The murderer stole 200 Egyptian Pounds (36 dollars) and a cell phone before he fled, leaving a knife and an iron bar outside the building.

The murderer also left behind a blood-stained T-shirt. Police arrested Sami after matching his DNA with the blood found on the T- shirt. They also found his fingerprints at the scene.