NY Event

NY Event

Human Rights Conference in NY at the Crown Plaza UN

The Lebanese Forces Party held a Human Rights conference in New York at the Crowne Plaza-UN Hotel on April 23, 1999. The event hosted representatives from Human Rights Organizations and various Political and Media Representative along with Supporters of the LFP. The event was also attended by NY Supreme Court judges and various law professionals.

The invitations that were issued are the following:

The invitation to the Public

The Invitation to the Media

The conference started as follows:

"We would like to welcome you and to thank you for taking the time to attend our conference. We would especially like to thank those who crossed the Atlantic and the Pacific to be with us today.
We will begin with a video that details the history of the Lebanese Forces. Some of the footage was smuggled out of Lebanon on home video cassettes. For this reason, the quality leaves a lot to be desired. We would also like to warn you that there would be some shocking scenes. Please be advised."

The 15 minutes film that was prepared by the Media department in the LFP listed events in a chronological order. It started with a background on the war in Lebanon and the forming of the LFP and ended with an exposure of Human Rights abuses against the LFP members. It spoke about the arrest of its leader and explained the systematic arrests and tortures committed against its members as a strategy to curb the party and force its members to flee.

The Commentary on the film is the following:

Film Commentary

Here, the two testimonies given by Fadi Mehanna and Jihad Sleiman were introduced. You can also read about them on our Human Rights Page under the heading: "Testimonies"

Dr. Rashid Rahme, the Human Rights representative in the LFP Political Council and the head of LFP, London Chapter was introduced.

Dr. Rashid Rahme gave a speech explaining the uniqueness of Lebanon and its diverse religious background. He emphasized that Lebanon could be the prototype for a common living experience between the various religions. He then detailed the Human Rights abuses in Lebanon while listing the various issues that endanger the Christian existence in Lebanon.

Dr. Rahme’s lecture

After Dr. Rahme’s speech, Mr. Stephen Stanton was introduced.

Mr. Stanton spoke about his experience in Lebanon while acting as the defense attorney for Dr. Geagea and how he was ousted from Lebanon for speaking against the Judicial practices in Lebanon. He also spoke about the recent Australian decision concerning Atef al Haber, the accused in one of these trials and how the Australian courts found the judgment rendered against him by the Lebanese Judicial Council as unsafe and unsatisfactory. He said:

Stanton’s lecture

After Mr. When Stanton ended his lecture, the floor was opened for questions. The attendees wanted to understand more about the judicial system in Lebanon and asked of Dr. Rahme and Mr. Stanton to elaborate on the judicial procedures in Lebanon.

At the end of the conference, the LFP distributed a packet, which included many documents: The LFP Human Rights booklet, which details the events and history of the Lebanese Forces Party. The attendees also received a package that included copies of the testimonies of Jihad Sleiman and Fadi Mehanna when arrested and tortured by the Lebanese authorities.