Latest news with #LebaneseArmedRevolutionaryBrigade
Roya News
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Roya News
French court approves release of Lebanese activist Georges Abdallah
A French court has approved the release of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, a Lebanese man who has spent almost four decades behind bars for attacks targeting American and 'Israeli' diplomats in the 1980s, French broadcaster BFM TV reported on Thursday. Abdallah, the founder of the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Brigade (LARB), was convicted in 1987 and handed a life sentence for his involvement in the 1982 assassinations of US military attaché Charles Ray and 'Israeli' diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris. He was also found guilty of the attempted murder of US Consul General Robert Homme in Strasbourg in 1984.
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
French court orders pro-Palestinian Lebanese fighter freed after 40 years
A French court has ordered the release of pro-Palestinian Lebanese fighter Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, who has been imprisoned for 40 years for his role in the killings of two foreign diplomats in France in the early 1980s. The Paris Appeals Court ordered on Thursday that Abdallah, 74, be freed from a prison in southern France on July 25 on the condition that he leave French territory and never return. The former head of the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Brigade was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1987 for complicity in the 1982 murders of United States military attache Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris and the attempted murder of US Consul General Robert Homme in Strasbourg in 1984. First detained in 1984 and convicted in 1987, Abdallah is one of the longest serving prisoners in France as most prisoners serving life sentences are freed after less than 30 years. The detainee's brother, Robert Abdallah, told the AFP news agency in Lebanon on Thursday that he was overjoyed by the news. 'We're delighted. I didn't expect the French judiciary to make such a decision nor for him to ever be freed, especially after so many failed requests for release,' he was quoted as saying. 'For once, the French authorities have freed themselves from Israeli and US pressures.' Abdallah's lawyer Jean-Louis Chalanset also welcomed the decision: 'It's both a judicial victory and a political scandal that he was not released earlier.' Abdallah is expected to be deported to Lebanon. Prosecutors may file an appeal with France's highest court, the Court of Cassation, but it is not expected to be processed quickly enough to halt his release next week. Abdallah has been up for release for 25 years, but the US – a civil party to the case – has consistently opposed his leaving prison. Lebanese authorities have repeatedly said Abdallah should be freed from jail and had written to the appeals court to say they would organise his return home to Beirut. In November, a French court ordered his release on the condition Abdallah leaves France. But French prosecutors, arguing that he had not changed his political views, appealed the decision, which was consequently suspended. A verdict was supposed to have been delivered in February, but the Paris Appeals Court postponed it, saying it was unclear whether Abdallah had proof that he had paid compensation to the plaintiffs – something he has consistently refused to do. The court re-examined the latest request for his release last month. During the closed-door hearing, Chalanset told the judges that 16,000 euros ($18,535) had been placed in the prisoner's bank account and were at the disposal of civil parties in the case, including the US. Abdallah, who has never expressed regret for his actions, has always insisted he is a 'fighter' who battled for the rights of Palestinians and not a 'criminal'. The Paris court has described his behaviour in prison as irreproachable and said in November that he posed 'no serious risk in terms of committing new terrorism acts'. Abdallah still enjoys some support from several public figures in France, including left-wing members of parliament and Nobel Prize-winning author Annie Ernaux, but has mostly been forgotten by the general public. Solve the daily Crossword
Al Jazeera
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
French court orders pro-Palestinian Lebanese fighter freed after 40 years
A French court has ordered the release of pro-Palestinian Lebanese fighter Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, who has been imprisoned for 40 years for his role in the killings of two foreign diplomats in France in the early 1980s. The Paris Appeals Court ordered on Thursday that Abdallah, 74, be freed from a prison in southern France on July 25 on the condition that he leave French territory and never return. The former head of the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Brigade was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1987 for his role in the 1982 murders of United States military attache Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris and the attempted murder of US Consul General Robert Homme in Strasbourg in 1984. First detained in 1984 and convicted in 1987, Abdallah is one of the longest serving prisoners in France as most prisoners serving life sentences are freed after less than 30 years. The detainee's brother, Robert Abdallah, told the AFP news agency in Lebanon on Thursday that he was overjoyed by the news. 'We're delighted. I didn't expect the French judiciary to make such a decision nor for him to ever be freed, especially after so many failed requests for release,' he was quoted as saying. 'For once, the French authorities have freed themselves from Israeli and US pressures.' Abdallah's lawyer Jean-Louis Chalanset also welcomed the decision: 'It's both a judicial victory and a political scandal that he was not released earlier.' Abdallah is expected to be deported to Lebanon. Prosecutors may file an appeal with France's highest court, the Court of Cassation, but it is not expected to be processed quickly enough to halt his release next week. Abdallah has been up for release for 25 years, but the US – a civil party to the case – has consistently opposed his leaving prison. Lebanese authorities have repeatedly said Abdallah should be freed from jail and had written to the appeals court to say they would organise his return home to Beirut. In November, a French court ordered his release on the condition Abdallah leaves France. But French prosecutors, arguing that he had not changed his political views, appealed the decision, which was consequently suspended. A verdict was supposed to have been delivered in February, but the Paris Appeals Court postponed it, saying it was unclear whether Abdallah had proof that he had paid compensation to the plaintiffs – something he has consistently refused to do. The court re-examined the latest request for his release last month. During the closed-door hearing, Chalanset told the judges that 16,000 euros ($18,535) had been placed in the prisoner's bank account and were at the disposal of civil parties in the case, including the US. Abdallah, who has never expressed regret for his actions, has always insisted he is a 'fighter' who battled for the rights of Palestinians and not a 'criminal'. The Paris court has described his behaviour in prison as irreproachable and said in November that he posed 'no serious risk in terms of committing new terrorism acts'. Abdallah still enjoys some support from several public figures in France, including left-wing members of parliament and Nobel Prize-winning author Annie Ernaux, but has mostly been forgotten by the general public.
The National
17-07-2025
- Politics
- The National
Lebanese militant Georges Abdallah to be released from French prison after four decades
The Paris Court of Appeal on Thursday ruled in favour of the release from prison of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, a Lebanese citizen who has spent almost 40 years in prison in France over his part in the murder of an Israeli and a US diplomat. "It's both a judicial victory and a political scandal," said his lawyer Jean-Louis Chalanset, who maintains that his client has spent the longest time in prison for acts related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. French government officials have described him as a terrorist. Abdallah, 73, was sentenced to life in 1987 for complicity in the 1982 murders in Paris of US military attache Charles Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov, and the attempted murder of US Consul General Robert Homme in Strasbourg in 1984. His lawyer said he is scheduled to fly to Beirut on July 25, escorted by French officers. The former head of the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Brigade, which was an offshoot of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Abdallah has been eligible for release since 1999. However he remained incarcerated despite filing 11 requests. But in November, a Paris court granted his release on condition that he leaves France and does not return. It said that Abdallah had been irreproachable in prison and posed "no serious risk to renew terrorism acts". The office of France's anti-terrorism prosecutor appealed against the decision, automatically keeping him in prison. The appeals hearing took place on December 19 and judges were due to give their ruling in February but the decision was postponed to July. Mr Chalanset said that Abdallah wants to return to his home village of Qoubaiyat in north Lebanon to end his life there peacefully. Abdallah, a self-proclaimed Marxist, has always described himself as a 'fighter' who battled for the rights of Palestinians and not a 'criminal'. Lebanese authorities describe him as a "political prisoner". The United States is reported to have pressured France to block Abdallah's release. In January 2013, his eighth request to be freed was successful, but the Interior Ministry then refused to validate his expulsion from France. It has been reported that Hillary Clinton, then US secretary of state, had called prime minister Laurent Fabius to ask for him to not be released. Again, in November 2024, the US Department of Justice wrote to French judges to oppose his upcoming hearing, saying that his return to Lebanon would represent a threat to public order and highlighting that Abdallah had refused to repudiate the killings. His lawyer has criticised US arguments, pointing out that the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Brigade no longer exists and no acts have been carried out by it in Europe or the US since 1984.
