Georges Abdallah's defense: Appeal does not hinder expected release
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Lebanese activist Georges Abdallah's lawyer confirmed to Al Mayadeen that appealing the release order will not prevent him from being released on July 25.
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Georges Ibrahim Abdallah arrives at the Pau appeal court in southwestern France on February 18, 2010. (AP)
The defense attorney for Lebanese activist Georges Abdallah told Al Mayadeen on Monday evening that the Paris Public Prosecutor’s appeal will not impact Abdallah’s scheduled release on June 25.
This statement followed the prosecutor’s decision to challenge the Court of Cassation’s ruling, which had approved Abdallah’s release.
Just days earlier, on July 17, France’s Ministry of Justice announced that Abdallah, detained for over four decades, would be freed after 41 years in French prisons.
Lebanese activist Georges Abdallah, whose release was approved by a French court on Thursday, attributed the decision to the persistent mobilization of his supporters, calling it a decisive factor in the outcome.
Speaking from his cell at Lannemezan Prison in southern France, during a visit by far-left MP Andrée Taurinya and in the presence of Agence France-Presse, Abdallah said,
“If they agreed to release me, it’s because of the growing mobilization behind the cause.”
Abdallah, 74, an outspoken supporter of the Palestinian cause, spoke from a cell adorned with a photo of Che Guevara and posters backing Palestine. He emphasized that it was not the length of his imprisonment that influenced the court’s decision.
Who is Georges Abdallah?
Abdallah, a former member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), has so far served 41 years in prison, which makes him the longest-held prisoner in Europe.
He founded the Marxist-Leninist Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions (LARF), which claimed responsibility for four operations in France during the 1980s.
The Lebanese revolutionary was accused of taking part in the assassination of US military attache Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in 1982 and was sentenced on these accusations.
Abdallah never responded to the list of accusations and considered that the French judicial system was "despicably" taking the resistance action out of context.
At his trial for the alleged killing of the diplomats, Abdallah was handed a life sentence, significantly harsher than the 10 years sought by prosecutors. His lawyer, Jacques Verges, called the sentence a "declaration of war."
Abdallah maintains that he is a fighter advocating for Palestinian rights, not a criminal.
He became eligible for parole in 1999, but all previous applications were denied, except in 2013, when his release was conditioned on expulsion from France.
However, then-Interior Minister Manuel Valls refused to implement the order, keeping Abdallah in prison.
