Dr. Geagea's Updated News

Samir Geagea has said his new prison room at the ground floor of defense ministry compound in Yarze was a 'royal suite' compared to the 3-floor underground dungeon where he spent 10 years of solitary confinement without fresh air or sunshine, An Nahar reported on Saturday.
Geagea's quote came in the course of a report by parliament's Human Rights Committee about the visit of three member-legislators to the commander of the Lebanese Forces at the defense ministry prison, An Nahar said.

The new room spans 9 meters, has a decent toilet and shower and a window with a bed, table and a desk and "all the equipment and furniture a tenant would require." Geagea told his visitors, according to the report, that he was in a good physical and psychological condition at his new room, to which he was moved four months ago.

The report quoted Geagea as saying he would ask four of five friends of his in parliament to take his case to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan if President Lahoud fails to issue a special pardon for him in response to the latest plea of the London-based Amnesty International.

"Geagea receives cultural, theological and economic books and has requested a theology professor to consult with about an in-depth study…and a book he is authoring in this subject," the report said, without mentioning whether the request has been met.

As for Jirjis Khoury, who is held since the 1994 bombing of a Maronite church north of Beirut, the report spoke of appalling jail conditions that "violate the simplest rights of a human being."

His cell at the lowest underground floor of the defense ministry is only 2 and ½ meters long and 1.30 meters wide. He is allowed a 60-minute outing into the prison's courtyard a day with his right arm chained to a soldier escort, according to the report.

Addoum says Geagea's re-trial not possible

Justice Minister Adnan Addoum refuted Thursday accusations by former economy minister Marwan Hamadeh that evidence on the assassination attempt that targeted him two months ago is being hidden by the judicial authorities, An Nahar reported Friday. Addoum told a press conference that a video-tape of the booby trapped car that hit Hamadeh's motorcade and the suspect "is not hidden or lost but in the hands of the judge conducting the investigation into the assassination attempt of MP Marwan Hamadeh." Addoum said the judge watched the video tape and informed him that the footage of the car and the suspect are blurred and not clear at all.

"The military investigative judge is thoroughly investigating the case and has inspected the scene of the blast and took Hamadeh's testimony at the hospital, but the latter had a different view then from now," Addoum said. He noted that Hamadeh initially accused the Israeli intelligence, the Mossad, of standing behind the attempt against him in order to cause a schism and severe divisions within the Lebanese society. "But a few days later, MP Hamadeh changed his views and testimony obviously for political reasons, and started with MP Walid Jumblat accusing the security and judicial authorities," Addoum added.

In a recent television interview, Hamadeh held the Lebanese state responsible for the attempt on his life and indirectly accused the state's security agencies of standing behind it. He also hinted that the attempt might be in response to the opposition of Jumblat's bloc in parliament to the extension of President Emile Lahoud's mandate by three months at the behest of Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon.

Addoum also stressed that the re-trial of Dr. Samir Geagea, the chief of the outlawed Christian Lebanese Forces (LF) was impossible from a legal standpoint. "There is no appeal in the final sentences especially those issued by the Judicial Council," he said. "We cannot make the people live in hope and unrealizable dreams... There is no point in hoping, only if a special amnesty for him is issued," Addoum added.

Lebanese Froces,

End of report.

Geagea asks reason for continued imprisonment

Samir Geagea, the imprisoned leader of disbanded Lebanese Forces, asked a delegation of visiting MPs why he was not included in a general pardon in 1991 and was still imprisoned.

Members of Parliament's human rights committee visited Geagea in his prison cell for the first time on Saturday and said he is being treated well and is in good health.

But the imprisoned leader questioned why he had not been included in the General Pardon Law of 1991.

Geagea allegedly told his visitors that he was not as concerned about his jail conditions as much as he cared to know why he still remains in jail.

"I don't belong here," Geagea allegedly said. "I went all the way with the national consensus and delivered all of my weapons when many others didn't.

"Why was I excluded from the pardon?"

Ghassan Mokheiber, Neamatallah Abi Nasr and Atef Majdalani - visited Geagea at his prison at the Defense Ministry. They denied rumors that their visit came in response to Amnesty International's latest declaration that the government forbids human rights activists from visiting the prison and that detainees are tortured there.

An Amnesty report claimed Geagea was convicted in an unfair trial and that he is being held in degrading conditions.

Lebanon has vehemently denied Amnesty's charges.

According to the committee, the visit to see Geagea was planned four months ago.

"Geagea is slim, but he had a firm grip when we shook hands," Mokheiber said.

Abi Nasr said that Geagea was in good health.

Committee member Abi Nasr said that Geagea was moved to a newly-built room four months ago that has sunlight, unlike the underground cell Geagea says he spent the previous 10 years in.

"Geagea's room has heating and is subjected to sunlight and has everything needed in it," said Abi Nasr. "He is allowed to read and has lots of books but he is banned from reading newspapers or watching television."

According to legal expert Edmond Naim, the General Pardon Law was "unjust as it breaches the state's fundamental rules of equality.

"Either all of the heads of all militias during the Lebanese civil war should be delivered to justice or else all of them should be pardoned - and that includes Geagea."

Naim told The Daily Star in a telephone interview Sunday that the pardon covered all crimes committed during the war, "even crimes committed for political reasons."

As for Geagea, he also questioned why the president has not yet issued a special private pardon for him - despite the fact that "all of the criteria needed for such a pardon are available."

Abi Nasr referred the answer to the president, telling the media, "You have to ask the president about this."

By law, a presidential pardon needs the signatures of "the president, the premiere and the justice minister," said Naim.

The committee also visited LF group member Jirjis al-Khoury. Geagea and al-Khoury are serving life sentences in solitary confinement on charges of killing political opponents.

The DailyStar,

End of report.

Geagea 'Wonders' Why Lahoud Isn't Issuing a Pardon

Samir Geagea has expressed bewilderment about the prolonged delay of a special parole to end his ongoing imprisonment since 10 years and three months at the Defense ministry jail in Yarze.

His complaint was disclosed by three legislators of parliament's Human Rights Committee, who visited him at his solitary confinement in the hilltop ministry compound east of Beirut on Saturday, An Nahar reported on Sunday.

"I am not requesting parole, but I am wondering why President Lahoud hasn't issued a special pardon decree since parliament has long been reluctant to vote on such a parole," Geagea was quoted as telling the committee by its spokesman Nimatallah Abi Nasr.

"My place is not here. I have accepted the national reconciliation" embodied in the 1989 Taif accord that halted Lebanon's 15-year civil war, said Geagea, the commander of the Lebanese Forces Christian militia during the last five years of the sectarian conflict.

"I have joined the national reconciliation bid and I wonder why haven't I been covered by the post-war general amnesty. I don't know why parliament has been so late in issuing a pardon ," Abi Nasr quoted Geagea as saying, according to An Nahar.

"Why don't you request a parole?" Geagea was asked by committee visitors, who included Legislators Atef Majdalani and Ghassan Mokhaiber in addition to Abi Nasr.

"I do not request, but I wonder why the president of the republic hasn't issued a special pardon on his own," Geagea was quoted by Abi Nasr as responding. "I want to stress that I am not requesting, but merely wondering.. As a matter of principle, I won't budge even if I stay 10 or 20 more years in jail."

Abi Nasr said the ground-level room to which Geagea was recently moved up from a three-floor underground dungeon that had no light or window where he spent 10 years was decent, with plenty of light and a big library for Geagea to read, although the chamber has no television set and no newspapers or magazines are allowed.

As for the underground cell of another prisoner, Girgis Khoury, 36, who is held in connection with the bombing of Notre Dame de Deliverance Church north of Beirut in 1994, Abi Nasr spoke of appalling maltreatment.

"Khoury is held in a dungeon 130 centimeters wide with an adjoining bath 110 centimeters wide. It has no sunshine, electricity, or fresh air and Khoury sleeps on a mattress on the floor. Even his lawyer is banned from seeing him," Abi Nasr said.

The lawyer, George Najm, a pro-Hizbullah parliament member, has said that he requested a permit to visit his client in jail, but was told: "you are now a deputy in Parliament and consequently you are not his attorney," according to Abi Nasr, who spoke at a news conference in parliament after visiting Geagea.

Naharnet,

End of report.