Karami: Geagea Nomination Insult to Sunni Sect and a Boring, Silly Farce
Former sports and youth minister Faisal Karami on Sunday described the presidential nomination of Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea as “an insult against the Sunni sect,” reminding that the latter had been convicted in the 1987 assassination of then-premier Rashid Karami.
“The justice of heaven and earth obliges us to speak. Verbal attacks against Abdul Hamid, Omar and Rashid Karami are an attack on Tripoli's honor,” the ex-minister said during a mass Tripoli rally marking the 27th anniversary of Rashid Karami's assassination.
“We did not choose posts at the expense of Tripoli and did not enter the civil war. We did not create militias to take advantage of blood in compromises and deals,” Karami, a nephew of the slain PM, added.
“We did not gamble with people's security and properties. The members of the Karami family died for the sake of people and offered the blood of Rashid Karami for the sake of the city's residents,” he said.
Addressing “all those who have forgotten why Rashid Karami was killed,” Karami said his uncle was killed because he “stood firm in the face of attempts to partition Lebanon and was an obstacle in the face of federalism calls.”
“Israel's agents killed him at its instructions,” he added.
Karami slammed Geagea's presidential bid as “a boring and silly farce," warning that "it is dangerous because it was approved by the political class under the excuse of democracy, while its mere presence on the scene is a shame for justice in Lebanon."
“The nomination of such a criminal for presidency is unjustified and his candidacy is an insult against the Sunni sect. No matter how much they defend Geagea, how much they give him money and how much they try to polish his image, he will remain a criminal convicted by the highest judicial authority in the Lebanese state,” Karami added.
Commenting on arguments that Geagea was appointed by his father, ex-PM Omar Karami, in the 1992 post-civil war government, the ex-minister added: “We're fed up with remarks saying we had appointed Geagea as minister. Ex-PM Omar Karami had appointed Geagea in a cabinet tasked with disarming militias before he was charged and convicted” by the Judicial Council, Lebanon's highest judicial authority.
“Tripoli will not forget Rashid Karami's blood and I salute the Tripoli MPs who refused to vote for Geagea” during the first electoral session on April 23, Karami added.
Rashid Karami was killed when a bomb placed in his helicopter exploded as he was heading to Beirut on June 1, 1987.
In 1999, the Judicial Council convicted Geagea and several other LF members of involvement in the assassination.
Geagea was tried for ordering four political assassinations, including Karami's. He denied all charges and described them as politically motivated but was found guilty and sentenced to four death sentences, each of which was commuted to life in prison.
The LF leader was imprisoned in solitary confinement for 11 years until the parliament voted to grant him amnesty in July 2005 in the wake of the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon.
Y.R.
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