US EditionA Lebanese Pro-Palestinian Militant Returns Home After 40 Years in a French Prison
BEIRUT GOVERNORATE, LEBANON, JUL 25 – Georges Abdallah was the longest-held prisoner in Western Europe and renewed calls for armed resistance upon his release after 40 years in a French prison.
- Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, a 74-year-old Lebanese pro-Palestinian militant, was released from a French prison on July 25, 2025, and deported to Lebanon after over 40 years in detention.
- Abdallah was imprisoned since 1984 and sentenced to life in 1987 for complicity in the 1982 murders of an American military attaché and an Israeli diplomat in Paris; prior parole requests had been repeatedly denied amid US opposition.
- His release was ordered by the Paris Court of Appeal on condition he never return to France, and he was welcomed by supporters waving Palestinian and Lebanese flags at Beirut airport before heading to his hometown Qobayat.
- Supporters called Abdallah a symbol of resistance, with activist Mohammad Shuqair saying they draw strength from him, and Abdallah himself urged Arabs to protest Gaza’s suffering, stating "Resistance must continue and escalate."
- Abdallah’s release marks the end of one of France’s longest incarcerations and highlights ongoing tensions between his supporters who see him as a political prisoner and opponents like the US who view him as a convicted terrorist.
34 Articles
34 Articles
After 40 years in prison, Pro-Palestinian who killed Israeli diplomat returns to Lebanon
Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, a communist militant, was sentenced to life in 1987 for complicity in the assassinations of U.S. military attaché Charles Ray and Israeli diplomat Ya'akov Barsimantov in France
He was one of the oldest prisoners in France and even in Europe. Georges Abdallah, a pro-Palestinian Lebanese activist, was released from the prison in Lannemezan, in southern France, this Friday, July 25th in the morning, after 41 years of imprisonment for complicity in the murders of two American and Israeli diplomats. He was released since 1999, but his detention was prolonged under US pressure, despite 12 requests to be released. He arrived …
Daily Journal
A Lebanese pro-Palestinian militant returns home after 40 years in a French prison
A Lebanese pro-Palestinian communist militant has arrived in Lebanon following his release after more than 40 years in prison in France. Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, who is now 74, was serving a life sentence for complicity in the murders of two…
After forty years in prison in France, pro-Palestinian activist Georges Ibrahim Abdallah is back in his native Lebanon. Icon of the radical left, he regains a deeply transformed political landscape in his absence.
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