Georges Abdallah campaign salutes Assange, calls for former's release

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Lebanese National Campaign to Liberate Georges Abdallah
27 Jun 2024 12:49

In a statement, Georges Abdallah campaign expresses gratitude to WikiLeaks for its publication of Hillary Clinton's emails, which exposed US government interference in 2013 aimed at preventing Abdallah's release.

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A poster reading "Freedom for Georges Abdallah" is placed near razor wire on the gate outside the prison in southern France, on October 25, 2014. (AFP)

The Lebanese National Campaign to free Lebanese revolutionary figure and political prisoner Georges Abdallah has extended congratulations to Julian Assange, his family, and the administration of WikiLeaks following his release from "US-affiliated prisons".

This comes after a US court sentenced Assange to time served and no supervised release after he pleaded guilty to one of the US espionage counts as part of a plea agreement with US prosecutors. According to Flightradar, the jet with Assange on board arrived in Canberra at 09:37 GMT on Wednesday.

Assange had been imprisoned in the high-security Belmarsh Prison in London since April 2019 after British police were allowed to raid the Ecuadorian Embassy where he had sought asylum in 2012. The US sought to put Assange on trial for publishing US military secrets and evidence of war crimes in the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is accused of publishing some 700,000 confidential documents relating to US military and diplomatic activities.

In a statement, the campaign expressed gratitude to WikiLeaks for its publication of Hillary Clinton's private emails, which exposed US government interference in 2013 aimed at preventing Abdallah's release.

Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, a Lebanese revolutionary known for his opposition to Zionism and imperialism, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1987 for his alleged involvement in the assassinations of an American and an Israeli military attaché in Paris, as per the statement.

Abdallah has been a target of prolonged "judicial harassment" under foreign pressure, it further stressed.

The statement emphasized that although Abdallah completed the minimum term of his life sentence in 1999, his requests for parole have been repeatedly denied.

It praised Julian Assange, Australian journalist and co-founder of WikiLeaks, who gained prominence for publishing classified US documents exposing American military actions.

The statement detailed that Assange faced legal challenges after Sweden issued an arrest warrant on rape allegations in 2010, leading to fears of extradition to the United States. Seeking asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012, Assange spent years in legal battles against extradition.

It also hailed that Assange now enjoys freedom following his release from a British prison, where he fought extradition. However, efforts continue for the release of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, the statement concluded.

This comes shortly after the Lebanese minister of culture in the caretaker government, Judge Mohammad Wissam al-Mortada, has lately called on French authorities to release Abdallah.

Minister al-Mortada's request followed a demand from French authorities, through Lebanon's Ministry of Justice, for the extradition of a French-Algerian citizen to stand trial in France.

The request by the culture minister was supported and subsequently approved by the cabinet, which then decided to direct the minister of justice to take the necessary steps to secure Abdallah's release and facilitate his return to Lebanon.

Who is Georges Abdallah?

Georges Abdallah, a revolutionary figure, has been imprisoned in France since 1984. He has so far served 38 years in prison, which makes him the longest-held prisoner in Europe. He was accused of assassinating US and Israeli diplomats and was sentenced based on these claims.

Abdallah completed the minimum part of his life sentence in 1999, but French authorities denied his eight parole requests. The judiciary agreed several times to these requests, given that the French Interior Ministry deports him, but that decision was never taken.

Over the years, leftist MPs and human rights organizations such as the Human Rights League (LDH) and even the French intelligence chief called for his release.