Latest news with #GeorgeIbrahimAbdallah
LBCI
2 days ago
- Politics
- LBCI
US slams France over release of George Ibrahim Abdallah
The United States on Saturday condemned France's decision to release Lebanese pro-Palestinian activist George Ibrahim Abdallah, who spent over 40 years behind bars for his role in the killings of two diplomats—one American and one Israeli. Abdallah was arrested in 1984 and sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for involvement in the assassinations of U.S. military attaché Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris. Earlier this month, a French appeals court approved Abdallah's release on the condition that he leave French territory and never return to it. He was freed from a prison in southwestern France on Friday and later arrived in his hometown in Lebanon. In a statement posted on social media, U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce sharply criticized the move, saying, "The United States opposes the French government's release of convicted terrorist George Ibrahim Abdallah and his deportation to Lebanon." Bruce added that his release "endangers the safety of American diplomats abroad and is a grave injustice to the victims and their families. The United States will continue to support efforts to achieve justice in this case."
L'Orient-Le Jour
3 days ago
- Politics
- L'Orient-Le Jour
11 requests, a burst of anger from Beirut and a legal loophole: How George Abdallah was finally released
After his 2015 parole request was rejected, George Ibrahim Abdallah vowed that only a presidential pardon — not another legal attempt — would ever free him. Yet, on July 17, 2025, the Paris Court of Appeal ordered his release, ending more than four decades of imprisonment. Abdallah, convicted of complicity in the 1982 killings of an American and an Israeli diplomat in Paris, had become a central figure in a case long entangled with Israeli-Palestinian tensions and international political pressure.A final walk out of cell 221On Friday morning, Abdallah left cell 221 in Lannemezan Prison in southern France, where he'd witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall, Mandela's election and the end of apartheid. As required by French law, he was expelled from France immediately, never to return, and flown to Lebanon. In the news 'The resistance is...
L'Orient-Le Jour
3 days ago
- Politics
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Abdallah released after 40 years in French jail, set to land in Beirut today.
One of France's longest-held inmates, the pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant George Ibrahim Abdallah, was released from prison and is due to be deported on Friday, after more than 40 years behind bars for the killings of two diplomats. At around 3:40 am (01:30 GMT), a convoy of six vehicles left the Lannemezan penitentiary with lights flashing, AFP journalists saw. A source close to the case confirmed to AFP that 74-year-old Abdallah had left the prison. Abdallah was detained in 1984 and sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for his involvement in the murders of U.S. military attache Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris. The Paris Court of Appeal had ordered his release "effective July 25" on the condition that he leave French territory and never return. While he had been eligible for release since 1999, his previous requests were denied with the United States — a civil party to the case — consistently opposing him leaving prison. Inmates serving life sentences in France are typically freed after fewer than 30 years. Once out of prison, Abdallah is set to be transported to the Tarbes airport where a police plane will take him to Roissy for a flight to Beirut, according to a source close to the case. Abdallah's lawyer, Jean-Louis Chalanset, visited for a final time on Thursday. "He seemed very happy about his upcoming release, even though he knows he is returning to the Middle East in an extremely tough context for Lebanese and Palestinian populations," Chalanset told AFP. AFP visited Abdallah last week after the court's release decision, accompanying a lawmaker to the detention centre. The founder of the Lebanese Revolutionary Armed Factions (FARL) — a long-disbanded Marxist anti-Israel group -- said for more than four decades he had continued to be a "militant with a struggle". 'Past symbol' After his arrest in 1984, French police discovered submachine guns and transceiver stations in one of his Paris apartments. The appeals court in February noted that the FARL "had not committed a violent action since 1984" and that Abdallah "today represented a past symbol of the Palestinian struggle". The appeals judges also found the length of his detention "disproportionate" to the crimes and given his age. Abdallah's family said they plan to meet him at Beirut airport's "honour lounge" before heading to their hometown of Kobayat in northern Lebanon where a reception is planned.
