15 Facts About Karim Pakradouni

Karim Pakradouni was born on 18 August 1944 and is a Lebanese attorney and politician of Armenian origin.

Karim Pakradouni was influential in Kataeb Party, heading it for some period.

Karim Pakradouni was influential in the Lebanese Forces in various critical phases of the LF.

Karim Pakradouni was minister of state in Rafic Hariri's government in 2004.

Karim Pakradouni has no familial ties to the traditional political elite in Lebanon.

Karim Pakradouni received his secondary education at College Notre Dame de Jamhour in the suburbs east of Beirut in the Baabda district.

Karim Pakradouni became politically active as a teenager, joining the Christian nationalist Kataeb Party in 1959.

Karim Pakradouni continued his education at the Lebanese French Saint Joseph University, studying law, history and political science, and graduated in 1968.

Karim Pakradouni has been a leading figure in the Kataeb Party since 1968 when he was elected president of the party's student organization.

Karim Pakradouni was elected to the Kataeb party's political bureau in 1970 and remained in the party's top echelon, leading the so-called "Arabist" faction of the Kataeb Party, which favored close ties with Syria.

Karim Pakradouni remained an influential figure during the Lebanese Forces head Elie Hobeika's reign after many revolted against the earlier chief of the LF Fouad Abou Nader and excluded Abou Nader from power.

However, in a later internal feud in the Lebanese Forces led by Samir Geagea to remove Hobeika from power, Karim Pakradouni squarely sided with Geagea against Hobeika who escaped to Syrian-controlled area.

In 1994, after the pro-Syrian Lebanese government ordered the dissolution of the LF and arrest of Samir Geagea on 21 April 1994, Karim Pakradouni was sidelined and later on returned to the Kataeb Party.

In 1968, Karim Pakradouni married Mona al Nashif, the niece of former member of the Lebanese Parliament, businesswoman and philanthropist Salem Abdelnour.

Karim Pakradouni has two sons: Jihad, who is a current MP, and Jawad.