24 January 2006

BEIRUT: Legislator and Lebanese Forces MP Edmond Naim died Monday at the age of 88. Parliament's oldest member won in the 2005 parliamentary elections in the Aley-Baabda district with the Future Movement, the Lebanese Forces, the Progressive Socialist Party and Hizbullah.

He was born in the Baabda town of Shiyah on September 5, 1918. Naim's late father, Wadih, was an MP, minister and president of the Lebanese Bar Association.

Edmond Naim earned a doctorate in law in 1951 and became head of the Lebanese University in 1970. He remained in this post for seven consecutive years.

He forged a close friendship with late Druze leader Kamal Jumblatt and was one of the founders of the Progressive Socialist Party in 1951, but later withdrew from the party.

In 1985, Naim was appointed governor of the Central Bank by former President Amin Gemayel.

He headed Samir Geagea's panel of defense attorneys during the trials of the LF commander when he was accused of being behind the 1994 bombing of Saydat al-Najat Church in Zouk, north of Beirut.

The late MP has had several works on law and politics published.

Prayers for his soul will be held on Wednesday at Mar Mikhael Church in Shiyah at noon. He will then be buried in the family's cemetery in Deir al-Qamar.

Speaker Nabih Berri announced Naim's death Monday, saying he was a "national and parliamentary reference."

Geagea, the president of the LF executive committee, urged the Lebanese to remain "loyal to the beliefs of Naim and to participate in the prayers for his soul on Wednesday." 

MP Hagop Kassardjian said "Parliament has lost one of the country's greatest men in law and the Constitution." He also hoped that Naim's parliamentary seat would not "become a source of political bickering."

Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel said Naim "fervently defended Lebanon's sovereignty and independence."

He added: "We will never forget his famous speech in Parliament, where he defended Lebanese values and rejected Syrian tutelage over Lebanon."

Meanwhile, sympathizers flocked to the the late MP's house to pay their condolences. Tourism Minister Joe Sarkis, MPs Antoine Gha-nem and Abdallah Farhat and the president of the Phalan-ge party, Karim Pakradouni were among the mourners. - With Naharnet