Lebanon to pardon Geagea

Lebanese legislators on Monday approved a motion to pardon Samir Geagea, a Christian militia leader serving a life term for killing a prime minister.

The motion also sought to free nearly three dozen Muslim militants, some with alleged Al Qaida links accused of attacking soldiers and plotting to bomb foreign embassies.

"This national unanimity that happened today (Monday) indicates the Lebanese people's will to turn the page of the war once and for all and to head toward the future," Geagea's wife, Streda, said outside parliament.

The former leader of the powerful Lebanese Forces has been linked to some of Lebanon's civil war era killings, including the 1987 bombing of a military helicopter that killed Prime Minister Rashid Karami and slaying of prominent politician Danny Chamoun.

He was later acquitted of the bombing but sentenced to three life terms after being convicted on several other murder counts, including those of Karami and Chamoun.

The expected release of Geagea evoked mixed reactions from the Lebanese who spoke to Gulf News.

The Geagea issue "involves a dilemma for many Lebanese people because it is related to the assassination of Karami," said Albeir Mansour, a former defence minister.

"Geagea is the only militia leader in jail, and that is unfair. It would have been okay if all the other militia leaders [who took part in the civil war] were also in prison," he said.

A majority of MPs voted in favour of the amnesty but the 14 representatives of the Shiite movement Hezbollah were absent.

Mohammad Raed, head of the Hezbollah bloc in the parliament, issued a statement explaining the absence saying, "We refrained from attending the session out of our conviction."

Walid Eido, an MP from Hariri's bloc, who drafted the motion, told Gulf News that Geagea was falsely accused of killing Karami.

"I was a judge when Geagea was sentenced. I know he was falsely accused to keep him in prison for a longer period and to leave the country divided."

For Eido, Geagea's release marks a "serious national reconciliation among the Lebanese".