Geagea Vows to Express Opinion despite Confinement in Maarab

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Wednesday he enjoys freedom of expression despite being imprisoned in his residence in Maarab over fears that he could be the target of another assassination attempt.

In an interview with al-Joumhouria daily, Geagea said: “We are not in a prison. We have a free opinion that we could express wherever we are.”

“We are taking the necessary measures so that our opinion remains free because freedom is a psychological state,” he added.

Geagea has confined himself to his residence after he escaped sniper fire in April. Lawmaker Butros Harb, who like Geagea is a member of the March 14 opposition alliance, also escaped an assassination attempt last week when detonators were found in the elevator of his office building.

Asked if the plots reached their objective of imprisoning him in Maarab, the LF chief said: “No one can limit my movements because they are based on the soul, hearth, thought and mind.”

Geagea reiterated the March 14 accusations that the government was encouraging assassination attempts by limiting the access of security agencies to the so-called telecom data.

Addressing President Michel Suleiman, the LF chief said: “I hope that you don’t call for cabinet sessions as long as there is a majority that permits the killing of the Lebanese.”

He was referring to the insistence of the March 8 alliance’s ministers during Monday’s cabinet session to limit the data handed over to the security apparatuses within a geographic location.

To Prime Minister Najib Miqati, Geagea said: “A death machine is on the move. We request giving legitimate security bodies the data. If they (March 8) don’t trust them, then let them change them.”

Asked if he called on the centrists to resign from the government, the LF chief said: “I call on them to resign if some parties continue to prevent the handing over of all data to the security agencies.”