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Kuwait Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Kuwait Times
Lebanese militant back home after 40 years in French jail
KOBAYAT: Lebanese army soldiers stand guard as pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, 74, prepares to give a press conference upon his arrival in his village of Kobayat in Lebanon's northern Akkar region on July 25, 2025, after serving more than 40 years in jail in France. – AFP KOBAYAT: One of France's longest-held inmates, the pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, arrived in his hometown on Friday, having been released after more than 40 years behind bars for the killings of two diplomats. AFP journalists saw a convoy leaving the Lannemezan prison in southwest France, and hours later, the 74-year-old was placed on a plane and deported back to Lebanon, to be welcomed by family members on his return to Beirut at the airport's VIP lounge. Back in his hometown of Kobayat, near the Syrian border in north Lebanon, hundreds of men, women and children gathered to welcome Abdallah. 'Whether or not we agree with his ideas... we first and foremost salute the man,' lawmaker Jimmy Jabbour, who is from the area, told AFP, hailing Abdallah's 'perseverance'. 'The whole village is happy that he's back... 41 years in prison, others would have probably lost their minds,' said Kobayat resident Claudette Tannous, 68. Earlier at Beirut airport, an AFP correspondent said dozens of supporters, some waving Palestinian or Lebanese Communist Party flags, gathered near the arrivals hall to give him a hero's reception. In his first public address after being released, Abdallah took aim at ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, where human rights organizations have warned of mass starvation. 'The children of Palestine are dying of hunger while millions of Arabs watch,' he said. 'Resistance must continue and intensify,' added the former schoolteacher. There was no official comment on his return from the Lebanese government. Abdallah was detained in 1984 and sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for his involvement in the murders of US military attache Charles Robert Ray and Zionist diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris. 'Past symbol' 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 his leaving prison. Inmates serving life sentences in France are typically freed after fewer than 30 years. Abdallah's lawyer, Jean-Louis Chalanset, visited him 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. The charge d'affaires of the Lebanese Embassy in Paris, Ziad Taan, who saw Georges Abdallah before his departure, told AFP that he was 'well, in good health, very happy to return to Lebanon to his family and to regain his freedom'. AFP visited Abdallah last week after the court's release decision, accompanying a lawmaker to the detention center. The founder of the Lebanese Revolutionary Armed Factions (FARL) - a long-disbanded Marxist anti-Zionist group—said for more than four decades he had continued to be a 'militant with a struggle'. 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 his crimes, and pointed to his age. — AFP
L'Orient-Le Jour
4 days ago
- Politics
- L'Orient-Le Jour
French court annuls arrest warrant for Bashar al-Assad
The verdict was widely expected by victims and relatives of the 2013 chemical attacks blamed on the Syrian government, which was overthrown in a public hearing streamed live for the first time, France's Court of Cassation on Friday annulled an arrest warrant issued in November 2023 by two investigating judges against ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for complicity in crimes against humanity and war sarin gas attacks, carried out in August 2013 in Adra and Douma and later in Eastern Ghouta, killed more than 1,000 people and wounded hundreds. In similar accusations How the Assad regime erased all traces of Khan Sheikhoun chemical attack, even in memories The decision handed down by France's highest court follows the validation in June 2024 by the Paris Court of Appeal of the arrest warrant issued...
Local France
4 days ago
- Politics
- Local France
France's top court annuls arrest warrant against Syria's Assad
The Court of Cassation ruled there were no exceptions to presidential immunity, even for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. But its presiding judge, Christophe Soulard, added that, as Assad was no longer president after an Islamist-led group toppled him in December, "new arrest warrants can have been, or can be, issued against him" and as such the investigation into the case could continue. Human rights advocates had hoped the court would rule that immunity did not apply because of the severity of the allegations, which would have set a major precedent in international law towards holding accused war criminals to account. They said that, in this regard, it was a missed opportunity. "This ruling represents a setback for the global fight against impunity for the most serious crimes under international law," said Mazen Darwish, the head of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, a civil party to the case. French authorities issued the warrant against Assad in November 2023 over his alleged role in the chain of command for a sarin gas attack that killed more than 1,000 people, according to US intelligence, on August 4 and 5, 2013 in Adra and Douma outside Damascus. Assad is accused of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity in the case. Syrian authorities at the time denied involvement and blamed rebels. Universal jurisdiction The French judiciary tackled the case under the principle of universal jurisdiction, whereby a court may prosecute individuals for serious crimes committed in other countries. An investigation -- based on testimonies of survivors and military defectors, as well as photos and video footage -- led to warrants for the arrest of Assad, his brother Maher who headed an elite army unit, and two generals. Advertisement Public prosecutors approved three of the warrants, but issued an appeal against the one targeting Assad, arguing he should have immunity as a head of state. The Paris Court of Appeal in June last year however upheld it, and prosecutors again appealed. But in December, Assad's circumstances changed. He and his family fled to Russia, according to Russian authorities, after Islamist-led fighters seized power from him. In January, French investigating magistrates issued a second arrest warrant against Assad for suspected complicity in war crimes for a bombing in the Syrian city of Deraa in 2017 that killed a French-Syrian civilian. 'Great victory' The Court of Cassation said Assad's so called "personal immunity", granted because of his office, meant he could not be targeted by arrest warrants until his ouster. But it ruled that "functional immunity", which is granted to people who perform certain functions of state, could be lifted in the case of accusations of severe crimes. Thus it upheld the French judiciary's indictment in another case against ex-governor of the Central Bank of Syria and former finance minister, Adib Mayaleh. Advertisement He has been accused of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity over alleged funding of the Assad government during Syria's civil war. Mayaleh obtained French nationality in 1993, and goes by the name Andre Mayard on his French passport. Darwish, the Syrian lawyer, said that part of the court's ruling was however a "great victory". "It establishes the principle that no agent of a foreign state, regardless of the position they hold, can invoke their immunity when international crimes are at stake," he said. Syria's war has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions from their homes since its eruption in 2011 with the then-government's brutal crackdown on anti-Assad protests. Assad's fall on December 8, 2024 ended his family's five-decade rule.
Eyewitness News
5 days ago
- Politics
- Eyewitness News
France's top court annuls arrest warrant against Syria's Assad
PARIS - France's highest court Friday annulled a French arrest warrant against Syria's ex-president Bashar al-Assad - issued before his ouster - over 2013 deadly chemical attacks. The Court of Cassation ruled there were no exceptions to presidential immunity, even for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. But its presiding judge, Christophe Soulard, added that, as Assad was no longer president after an Islamist-led group toppled him in December, "new arrest warrants can have been, or can be, issued against him" and as such the investigation into the case could continue. Human rights advocates had hoped the court would rule that immunity did not apply because of the severity of the allegations, which would have set a major precedent in international law towards holding accused war criminals to account. They said that, in this regard, it was a missed opportunity. "This ruling represents a setback for the global fight against impunity for the most serious crimes under international law," said Mazen Darwish, the head of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, a civil party to the case. French authorities issued the warrant against Assad in November 2023 over his alleged role in the chain of command for a sarin gas attack that killed more than 1,000 people, according to US intelligence, on August 4 and 5, 2013 in Adra and Douma outside Damascus. Assad is accused of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity in the case. Syrian authorities at the time denied involvement and blamed rebels. UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION The French judiciary tackled the case under the principle of universal jurisdiction, whereby a court may prosecute individuals for serious crimes committed in other countries. An investigation - based on testimonies of survivors and military defectors, as well as photos and video footage - led to warrants for the arrest of Assad, his brother Maher who headed an elite army unit, and two generals. Public prosecutors approved three of the warrants, but issued an appeal against the one targeting Assad, arguing he should have immunity as a head of state. The Paris Court of Appeal in June last year however upheld it, and prosecutors again appealed. But in December, Assad's circumstances changed. He and his family fled to Russia, according to Russian authorities, after Islamist-led fighters seized power from him. In January, French investigating magistrates issued a second arrest warrant against Assad for suspected complicity in war crimes for a bombing in the Syrian city of Deraa in 2017 that killed a French-Syrian civilian. 'GREAT VICTORY' The Court of Cassation said Assad's so-called "personal immunity", granted because of his office, meant he could not be targeted by arrest warrants until his ouster. But it ruled that "functional immunity", which is granted to people who perform certain functions of state, could be lifted in the case of accusations of severe crimes. Thus it upheld the French judiciary's indictment in another case against ex-governor of the Central Bank of Syria and former finance minister, Adib Mayaleh. He has been accused of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity over alleged funding of the Assad government during Syria's civil war. Mayaleh obtained French nationality in 1993, and goes by the name Andre Mayard on his French passport. Darwish, the Syrian lawyer, said that part of the court's ruling was however a "great victory". "It establishes the principle that no agent of a foreign state, regardless of the position they hold, can invoke their immunity when international crimes are at stake," he said. Syria's war has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions from their homes since its eruption in 2011 with the then-government's brutal crackdown on anti-Assad protests. Assad's fall on 8 December 2024 ended his family's five-decade rule.
L'Orient-Le Jour
5 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...
