Samir Geagea

Samir Farid Geagea (Arabic: سمير فريد جعجع, Arabic pronunciation: [samiːr ʤʕaʤʕa], also spelled Samir Ja‘ja‘; born 25 October 1952) is a Lebanese politician and commander. He is also the executive chairman of the Lebanese Forces, the second largest Christian political party in Lebanon.

He took leadership of the LF in 1986. After the civil war, there was increased pressure by Syria on Geagea to accept the Syrian presence or face charges. Prior to his arrest, he was contacted by several sympathetic politicians and warned about the forthcoming proceedings and offered safe passage out of Lebanon. In 1994, four years after the end of the Lebanese Civil War, Geagea was tried for ordering four political assassinations, including the assassination of Lebanon's Prime Minister Rashid Karami in 1987, and the unsuccessful attempted assassination of Defense Minister Michel Murr in 1991. He denied all charges, but was found guilty and sentenced to four death sentences, each of which was commuted to life in prison. Geagea was imprisoned in solitary confinement below the Lebanese Ministry of Defense building in Beirut for the next 11 years. He is the only Lebanese militia leader to have been imprisoned for crimes committed during the Lebanese Civil War.