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Lebanon approves motion to pardon warlord
Lawmakers approved motions Monday to pardon a notorious anti-Syrian warlord serving a life term for killing a prime minister and to free nearly three dozen Muslim militants, some with alleged links to al-Qaida. Samir Geagea, the former leader of the Christian Lebanese Forces, has been linked with some of Lebanon's most notorious civil war-era killings, including the 1987 bombing of a military helicopter that killed the pro-Syrian Prime Minister Rashid Karami and the slaying of Danny Chamoun, a prominent Christian politician. Parliament voted to pardon Geagea, who has been jailed since 1994, apparently in the spirit of national reconciliation following the withdrawal of the Syrian army and the end of Syrian domination of Lebanon.
It could be a week before the former warlord is freed, after which he is expected to travel abroad to undergo medical checkups, his wife said. Some 100 lawmakers voted for the amnesty motions, while about 15 legislators of the pro- Syria militant group Hezbollah and their allies walked out when lawmakers began debating Geagea's case. Hezbollah legislator Mohammed Raad said the legislators left because of the case's political sensitivity, referring to the family of the slain Karami who refuse to forgive Geagea. After the vote, Geagea supporters cheered outside the parliament and dismantled tents set up in Beirut's central Martyrs' Square, becoming the last anti-Damascus protesters to leave the square that had became the center of popular opposition to Syrian dominance. In his northern Lebanese mountain hometown of Becharre, heavy gunfire and fireworks erupted. Geagea supporters celebrating in Beirut's Christian suburb of Ain el-Rummaneh set off fire works late Monday, sparking wild street clashes with Shiite Muslims from the adjacent Chiyah area that injured 12 people, officials said. Syrian influence over Lebanese politics stymied past attempts to secure Geagea's pardon and the return Gen. Michel Aoun from 14 years' exile in France. But Aoun returned May 7, less than two weeks after Syria withdrew its troop under U.S.-led pressure sparked by the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri. President Emile Lahoud is expected to sign the amnesty bill, which then must be published in the official gazette and implemented. This process could take up to a week. The Muslim militants who were pardoned include 26 being tried on charges of involvement in 1999 clashes with soldiers in northern Lebanon that killed more than 40 people, including 11 troops. Seven other Muslim militants detained in September for plotting to bomb the Italian and Ukrainian embassies in Beirut, assassinate Western diplomats and attack Lebanese security facilities were also pardoned. The group's alleged leader, Ismail Mohammed al-Khatib, was said to be the head of al-Qaida terror group in Lebanon and died from a heart attack in police custody. Geagea led the Lebanese Forces militia during the 1975-90 civil war and has spent most of the past 11 years in solitary confinement in an underground cell at the Defense Ministry. He was arrested in 1994 and his group outlawed after a church bombing killed 10 people. He was later acquitted of the bombing but sentenced to three life terms on several other murder counts. Druse, Muslim and Palestinian forces were all targeted by Geagea, who allied his men with the Israelis in the central mountain region during the Jewish state's 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
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