Samir Geagea

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Samir Geagea (Arabic: سمير جعجع,also Samir Ja`ja`, born October 25, 1952) is the formerly imprisoned leader of the right wing Lebanese Forces (LF) militia.

Samir Geagea during his first speech in freedom on the 26th of July, 2005‎

Geagea served what were to be several life sentences for crimes supposedly committed during the Lebanese Civil War of 1975-1990, but he benefited from an amnesty law voted by the Parliament of Lebanon on July 18, 2005. He remains the only civil war-era leader to have stood trial for crimes committed during the war.

Geagea was born in Ain el-Remmaneh in Beirut in 1952 to parents from the Maronite town of Bsharri in the mountains of Northern Lebanon. While studying medicine at the American University of Beirut, he became an active member of the right-wing Phalangist Party, which became the main Christian fighting force upon the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975. He steadily rose through the ranks and led several daring operations at the request of Bashir Gemayel, then commander of the Phalangist militia (a right-wing movement advocating Maronite political participation in Lebanon). In 1978,under the order of LF Commander in Chief Bachir Gemayel, he led a Lebanese Forces commando to the region of Ehden where after many hours of combat,Tony Frangieh, the son of former President Suleyman Frangieh was killed. Many question how the events really went on, many state that Elie Hobeika continued the operation due to Geagea's injury. Geagea was wounded during this operation, and his hand was partially paralyzed as a result. Geagea was appointed head of the Lebanese Forces' northern Front in the early 1980s, where he commanded around 1,500 battle-hardened soldiers, drawn mainly from his native town of Bsharri and other towns and villages in Northern Lebanon. This loyal following would later ensure his ascension. Geagea led his men in fierce battles against the Syrian Army during the siege of Zahle in 1980-81. In 1983, he led the defence of the Shouf Region in central Lebanon that ended with defeat against an onslaught by various militias especially by those led by the later ally Walid Jumblat that were supported by the Syrian Army.

In 1984, Geagea and Elie Hobeika orchestrated an internal coup in order to end the leadership of Fuad Abu Nader in the Lebanese Forces. Abu Nader was considered to be too close to his uncle, president Amine Gemayel whose policies were not accepted by most LF leaders. In 1986, Geagea became head of the Lebanese Forces after overthrowing Hobeika, who was widely accused of treachery in the Lebanese Christian sector for agreeing to a Syrian-sponsored accord (the tripartite agreement). Geagea transformed the LF into an organized force and was equipped by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. In 1989, Geagea approved of the Taif Agreement which aim was to put an end to the lebanese war. He controlled most State-owned entities such as the Beirut port where he raised money for his militia from import-export activities. He also extracted taxes from the Christian region, offered free open-heart operations, twinned Christians cities with foreign cities, substituting the role of the state. He also tried to open an airport in the Halat region because the Beirut international airport (located in the west suburb of Beirut) was under the control of pro-Syrian groups what made the access for Lebanese Christians almost impossible.

Geagea initially aligned himself with the government of Prime Minister Michel Aoun. When Aoun launched the Liberation War against Syria on March 14, 1989, Geagea supported the Prime Minister's effort to free Lebanon from foreign forces. However, he later began to question Aoun's motives in pursuing such a destructive and unpromising war against the much larger Syrian Army and its leftist allies. When Aoun began taking active steps to dissolve the LF due to its opposition, Geagea resisted violently. This lead to a devastating military conflict between the Lebanese Army and the Lebanese Forces from January 31 to October 13, 1990.

[edit] The post-war period

Aoun surrendered on 13 October 1990 after the Syrian army expelled him from the Baabda presidential palace. This date is considered to mark the end of the civil war. Geagea was subsequently offered ministerial portfolios in the new Lebanese government several times. However, he declined on the grounds of opposition to Syrian interference in the internal affairs of Lebanon. In 1994, a bomb exploded in the Church of Sayyidet Al Najet and killed several worshippers. Geagea was suspected and arrested on charges of attempting to undermine government authority by "maintaining a militia in the guise of a political party," of instigating acts of violence, and of committing assassinations during the Lebanese Civil War. He was accused of the assassinations of Former Prime Minister Rashid Karami, Dany Chamoun and his family, and Elias Al Zayeck. He was also accused of attempting to kill Minister Michel Murr. Prior to his arrest, he was contacted by several sympathetic politicians and warned about the forthcoming proceedings and offered safe passage out of Lebanon. Geagea refused to leave and was subsequently arrested, tried and sentenced to life imprisonment on several different counts. Many members of the LF were allegedly subjected to horrific torture techniques in the process of being interrogated, resulting in the death of at least one LF official under interrogation. [1] The evidence used by the Lebanese authorities to convict Geagea was criticized by human rights groups such as Amnesty International as unreliable, circumstantial, and inconsistent. [2] Amnesty International also decried the conditions under which he was detained [3]. He was incarcerated in solitary confinement in a small cell three floors underground in the Lebanese Ministry of Defense, with his access to the outside world severely restricted.

During his incarceration, support for Geagea among Lebanese Christians remained high, and by some accounts has even increased. Despite widespread calls for his release by notable politicians and clerics, all Lebanese pro-Syrian governments refused to grant Geagea a pardon during the 1994-2005 period. Geagea is said to have rejected an offer of a presidential pardon that would have restricted his ability to participate in political activity.

Speaking to a delegation from the Lebanese Parliament's Human Rights Committee, which visited him in prison in November 2004, Geagea said, "I would prefer to remain in prison for another 20 years than bargain my beliefs for freedom." Calls for his release intensified after the Cedar Revolution and the subsequent withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon in 2005. Several public figures openly conceded that Geagea's arrest, trial, and incarceration were engineered by the Syrian-backed political order in response to his movement's hostile stance towards the Syrian presence in Lebanon.

The Lebanese Parliament passed an amnesty law on 18 July 2005 to free Samir Geagea. Only the Hezbollah parliament representatives abstained from voting. Geagea's banned party, the Lebanese Forces, held major celebrations throughout Lebanon.

Geagea was released from prison on 26 July 2005 and left Lebanon for medical tests. Upon his release he was quoted as saying "I have spent 11 horrific years in solitary confinement in a 6-square-meter dungeon three floors underground without sunlight or fresh air. But I endured my hardships because I was merely living my convictions,". Geagea has often declined requests to talk about his prison experience when interviewed by the media. He will talk about it in a documentary of 6 episodes broadcasted on Al Arabiya satellite television, beginning in November 2006. He returned on October 25 (the day of his birth), and currently lives in the Cedars region in northern Lebanon.