Sitrida: 'Samir is Well in Cell but in Pain for Lebanon's Agony'

Sitrida Geagea has declared that her husband was well despite his 10 years in solitary confinement within a 3-by-two 2 meter underground cell bereft from fresh air and sunlight, "but he is in pain the for the agonies Lebanon and the Lebanese are suffering."
Addressing a 20,000-strong rally in Harissa, she also pledged allegiance on behalf of Lebanese Forces commander Samir Geagea to Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, "who is leading with prophetic wisdom the march to restore Lebanon's freedom, sovereignty and dignity."

She also pledged the LF within the framework of the Qornet Shahwan coalition to follow the Patriarch's lead in rejecting the Syrian-dictated amendment of the Lebanese constitution that allowed Gen. Lahoud to stay on as president of Lebanon for 3 additional years.

Crowds brandished portraits of the Patriarch, Geagea and Bashir Gemayel, Lebanon's slain president-elect who founded the LF, as Sitrida Geagea made her address after the yearly memorial service "held for martyrs of the Lebanese Forces" at the Lady of Lebanon Cathedral in Harissa north of Beirut Sunday, An Nahar reported on Monday.

The massive presence at the Harissa event has gone to show that the LF remains a throbbing nerve in the Christian heartland, An Nahar said, highlighting Mrs. Geagea's declaration that the LF would stand in Lebanon's general elections next spring.

"Samir Geagea is well, but Lebanon is not well," she said from a makeshift podium at the Cathedral's spacious courtyard. "He is well in a cell they designed to be his grave, but which he transformed into a monk's hermitage. Yet he is in pain for the agonies of the homeland and its citizens."

In an address read out on his behalf by Monsignor Youssef Taouk, the Patriarch called for the release of every unjustly held prisoner, "foremost among whom is Samir Geagea." The head of the Maronite Church beseeched the Almighty to help the Lebanese bring about national reconciliation.

From Naharnet

posted by Rampurple @ 9/13/2004 11:24:00 AM

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