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A decade of
innocence has made Geagea a unique figure
by:
By Johnny Keirouz
Special to The Daily Star
April 22, 2004
On April 21, 1994, Dr. Samir Geagea was incarcerated by the Lebanese Army
for being allegedly responsible for the bombing of the "Notre Dame de
la Delivrance" (Saydat al-Najjat).
The sequence seemed to be perfectly synchronized. Two months prior to his
arrest, a bomb had exploded in the church in Zouk and, on March 23, the
Lebanese Forces Party had been disbanded.
For some, this sequence was a blessing. For others, it was a curse.
Geagea was a warlord. He grew up in an epoch of regional and local turmoil.
As a medical student at the American University of Beirut, he must have
anticipated the outbreak of the civil war. However, he could hardly have
expected to give up his long-held ambition of becoming a practicing doctor
in order to enroll in the Lebanese resistance and ultimately become its
leader.
Everyone in Geagea's generation was mercilessly drawn in by the war. And
so was he. While some left the country and some hardly remained neutral,
Geagea was among those who became belligerents. As a result, his captivity
became a source of relief for those whom the war had sickened - as well as
to Geagea's enemies, of course.
Ten years later, though, many people who despised him are now feeling
empathy towards him. Even some of his former foes are now asking for his
release. The young men and women who are currently demonstrating for him
by raising large portraits and the flag of the Lebanese Forces, have never
known him. They do know, however, what he stands for.
In their eyes, Geagea is the symbol of freedom as it stands in Lebanon
today. Freedom of speech is confined just like he is. Freedom of
expression is limited, just like his statements reaching out of his own
cell are. His demands seem to be echoing in the void just like the demands
of the Lebanese youth.
However, the new generation and Geagea have something in common: The same
objective and the same means. They both believe in reaching deliverance.
Their means are faith and endurance.
Geagea is enduring his solitary confinement and the youth are enduring the
challenges of the "outside world." And both are related to
freedom. Thus, any change in Geagea's symbolic situation, reflects the
hope of change held by many of Lebanon's young people.
Geagea, who is now serving a life sentence after being found guilty of
committing most of the political crimes that occurred during the war, is
now the only political prisoner among all the other leaders of the warring
factions.
Regardless of whether the accusations that once stood against him were
deserved or merely calumnies, Geagea has an advantage today. During his
10-year absence from the political arena, the Lebanese economy has
deteriorated, the Lebanese state has violated its commitment to human
rights and the rate of emigration from Lebanon has been greater than that
during the war.
For 10 years, former militia leaders and statesmen - or so they call
themselves - have been looting the economy, drowning the official
institutions in corruption and looking down on citizens.
For 10 years, Geagea and his followers have been set aside and, luckily,
have not taken part in any of the schemes that have been so deleterious to
the country.
It is therefore appropriate to say that 10 years of innocence on the
Curriculum Vitae of the jailed Samir Geagea distinguishes him from the
other free politicians who are ruling Lebanon.
Johnny Keirouz is a human rights activist and a Lebanese Forces supporter
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