23 July 2005
BEIRUT: While a number of prisoners have thus far been released in accordance with the General Amnesty Law, the best-known figure to be affected, Lebanese Forces (LF) Leader Samir Geagea, has not yet left confinement.
Although contradictory statements concerning the release of Geagea keep emerging, LF officials have announced that Geagea will be at Rafik Hariri International Airport on Tuesday to meet political figures and deliver a speech before taking off with his wife, Bsharri MP Strida Geagea, to a still undisclosed European country for medical tests and recuperation.
A LF delegation led by Strida Geagea paid a visit to Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir to invite him to the Tuesday event.
Speaking afterwards, Geagea expressed her gratitude to Sfeir for the effort he has exerted to help secure her husband's release.
"The Patriarch supported Geagea's cause during the 11 years of his imprisonment," she said.
Sources said Geagea will be escorted to the airport on Tuesday under tight security.
Following his meeting with Geagea in prison on Thursday, Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan said the LF leader would meet with figures such as Free Patriotic Movement leader and Kesrouan MP Michel Aoun, Future Movement leader and Beirut MP Saad Hariri, Chouf MP Walid Jumblatt upon his release.
Strida Geagea visited her husband at the Defense Ministry prison in Yarze on Thursday, to inform him that a special edition of the Official Gazette had already been published, making him a free man after 11 years and three months of confinement.
Maronite Bishop of Jibbeh Francis Baysari also visited Geagea at the prison. Geagea did not mention whether or not he would visit Diman before leaving Lebanon during their exchange.
Gerges Khoury visited Sfeir in Diman after his Thursday release. He spoke of his desire to turn over a new leaf, leaving past hardships behind.
Khoury said the visit was to thank Sfeir for his efforts to secure his release, as well as to take his blessing and receive advice. Khoury will soon be admitted to hospital for medical tests.
He said that he will hold a news conference in a month after a Mass at the Saydet al-Najat church.
Khoury, 36, was released after 11 years in prison having been convicted of helping to blowing up the Maronite church of Saydet al-Najat in 1994.
Former air force pilot Khalil Matar was showered with rice, flowers and rosewater as he entered his parents' home in Neameh Thursday, free after over 10 years in prison. He told the press:
"I have a free conscience. I have served Lebanon the best that I humanly could."
Matar was found guilty of participating in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rashid Karami in 1987. He was released under the same amnesty law that freed Geagea.
Matar said that conditions were very difficult in prison, but that the situation improved after the pardon was issued facilitating his release.
He returned home to his parents, wife and three children accompanied by his brother, Maronite Bishop Boulos Matar.
