French courts order release of Lebanese Georges Ibrahim Abdallah on July 25

A French court on Thursday ordered the release of Lebanese activist Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, who was sentenced in 1987 for the assassination of an Israeli diplomat and an American. Abdallah is one of France's longest-serving prisoners, a judicial source told AFP. Abdallah, who has been imprisoned for nearly 40 years, will be released on July 25. The appeals court issued its ruling in a closed session at the Palais de Justice in Paris, in the absence of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, 74, who is imprisoned in Lanmezan, Haute-Pyrénées.

Robert Abdallah, George Ibrahim Abdallah's brother, expressed his happiness with the decision, stressing that he hadn't expected "the day to come when he would be free." He told AFP: "We are very happy with this decision... I never expected the French judiciary to issue a similar ruling, or for a day to come when he would be free after his release had been obstructed more than once." He added, "For once, the French authorities have freed themselves from American and Israeli pressure."

Georges Abdallah could have been released since 1999 under French law, but his requests for conditional release were rejected, with the exception of one request in 2013. A court granted his release request in conjunction with an expulsion order, which the French Interior Minister at the time, Manuel Valls, refused to issue. On November 15, the anti-terrorism court gave him a glimmer of hope, ordering his release with immediate deportation to Lebanon, a request he had been requesting. However, the Public Prosecutor's Office, specializing in counter-terrorism cases (Benat), appealed the decision and suspended it.

Georges Abdallah was arrested in 1984 and sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of complicity in the assassination of American diplomats Charles Ray and Israeli diplomat Yakov Barsimantov in Paris in 1982, and the attempted assassination of US Consul General Robert Aum in Strasbourg in 1984. A member of the Lebanese Communist Party, Abdallah joined the ranks of the Palestinian resistance during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1978.

(AFP, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed)