Samir Geagea
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samir_Geagea
Samir Farid Geagea (also Samir Ja`ja`) born October 25, 1952 is the leader of the right wing Lebanese Forces (LF) political party.
He was imprisoned for 4114 days in solitary confinement from 1994 until 2005.
He is currently one of the leaders of March 14 Alliance alongside Saad Hariri, Walid Jumblatt and Amine Gemayel.mid-1980's Damascus relied heavily on Berri to counter the remilitarization of Palestinian refugee camps by Arafat's Fatah movement. In May 1985, Amal fought a two-year bloody war with the pro-Arafat Palestinian camps in Beirut and south Lebanon, indiscriminately killing thousands of people.
Early life and education
Geagea was born in Ain el-Remmaneh in Beirut in 1952 to a Maronite family from the town of Bsharri,
near the majestic Lebanon Cedar forest in the mountains of Northern Lebanon.
His father was an adjutant in the Lebanese Army and his mother a housewife.
He attended "Ecole Bénilde" elementary and secondary school in Furn el-Chebek, which was a free private school.
With the aid of a scholarship from the Khalil Gibran association, he studied medicine for two years at the American University of Beirut and then continued his studies at Saint Joseph University because of the war.
Though he never completed his degree, he is popularly referred to as al-Hakim ("The Doctor" in Arabic). He was 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.
War period
Geagea steadily rose through the ranks and led several daring operations at the request of Bashir Gemayel, then commander of the Phalangist militia. In 1978, following the murder of a Phalangist party leader in the North Lebanon called Joud el Bayeh in a power struggle with former president Suleiman Frangieh, Bachir Gemayel ordered Geagea to lead a unit to capture the suspects who were taking cover in Frangieh's mansion in Ehden. The convoy was ambushed on the way and Geagea was hit and admitted to Hotel Dieu hospital in Achrafieh where ironically he was doing his internship, his right hand was partially paralyzed and he never continued his formation while the military operation resulted in the murder of Tony Frangieh and his family.
Geagea was appointed head of the Lebanese Forces' militia 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. Geagea led his men in fierce battles against the Syrian Army during the siege of Zahle in 1980-1981. In 1982-1983, Geagea commanded the Lebanese forces against Walid Jumblat's PSP militia, the Palestinians, and the Syrians.
Lebanese Forces
In March 1985, Geagea and Elie Hobeika orchestrated an internal coup in order to end the leadership of Fouad Abou Nader in the Lebanese Forces. Abou 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). During the following year, Geagea meticulously rebuilt the LF into an organized, well trained and equipped military force. He established social security and public services to fill the void that was created by the war-crippled state administration. He also extracted taxes from the Christian region, offered free open-heart operations and twinned Christians cities with foreign cities and 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
The post-war period
Aoun was exiled to France on October 13, 1990. 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 but refused them under the basis that the government was under Syrian control. There was increased pressure by Syria on Geagea to accept the Syrian presence or face persecution. 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. On February 27, 1994, a bomb exploded in the Church of Sayyidet Al Najet and killed ten worshippers.[1] The LF were suspected and on March 23, 1994, the Lebanese government ordered the dissolution of the LF and Geagea's deputy Fouad Malek was taken into custody.[2] Geagea himself was arrested on April 21, 1994, on charges of ordering the church bombing, 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, National Liberal Party leader Dany Chamoun and his family, and former LF member Elias Al Zayek. He was also accused of attempting to kill Minister Michel Murr. He was acquitted in the church's case but given four life sentences in the other cases.
Imprisonment
Geagea was held in solitary confinement in a 2x3 windowless cell, three stories beneath the Ministry of Defense in the infamous Yarze Prison. He was deprived of his elementary rights, namely, reading books or periodicals containing political information, watching television, listening to the radio, sending and receiving mail letters or even conversing with his guards beyond simple commands. He was handcuffed and blindfolded whenever he was taken out of his cell for exercise or brief visits by relatives and lawyers under the watchful eye of monitors.[3] Amnesty International also considered his trial to be unfair.[4]
