French court orders release of Lebanese militant Georges Abdallah held since 1984

FRANCE 24

15 November 2024 at 7:40 am·1-min read

A French court Friday ordered the release of pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, jailed for 40 years after being convicted for the killing of two foreign diplomats. The office of France's anti-terrorism prosecutor said on Friday it would appeal the decision.

The court said Abdallah, who was detained in 1984 and convicted in 1987 over the 1982 murders, would be released on December 6 on condition that he leaves France, French anti-terror prosecutors said in a statement, adding that they would appeal the release order.

"In (a) decision dated today, the court granted Georges Ibrahim Abdallah conditional release from December 6, subject to the condition that he leaves French territory and not appear there again," the prosecutors said.

Abdallah was sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for his involvement in the 1982 murders of US military attaché Charles Ray and Israeli diplomat Yakov Barsimentov in Paris, as well as in an assassination attempt on Robert Homme, a US consul in Strasbourg.

The Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions claimed responsibility for the two murders, saying they were carried out in retaliation for US and Israeli involvement in the Lebanese civil war, which erupted in 1975, as well as Israel's subsequent occupation of southern Lebanon, which began in 1982 and lasted until 2000.

Abdallah has never expressed regret for his actions.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, Reuters)

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