After 41 Years, Pro-Palestinian Activist Georges Abdallah Released from French Prison

The 74-year-old Lebanese ex-teacher Georges Abdallah, known for his involvement with the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions, was released from Lannemezan prison in France following a lengthy imprisonment tied to assassinations of diplomats, reflecting ongoing political tensions surrounding his detention.

Georges Abdallah, a 74-year-old Lebanese teacher and a notable symbol for the Palestinian cause, has been released from prison in France after spending 41 years behind bars. After his release in the early hours of Friday, Abdallah is expected to be deported to Lebanon.

Abdallah is recognized by his attorney as having spent the longest period incarcerated for actions related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. His conviction in 1987 for involvement in the murders of an American diplomat and an Israeli diplomat in France left him largely forgotten by the public, although his release has remained a focal point for activists on the Marxist-Leninist left who still support him.

For decades, Abdallah’s image appeared on banners at left-wing demonstrations, with annual gatherings outside the prison where he was held. Many left-oriented municipalities in France even designated him as an "honorary citizen". Despite being eligible for parole from 1999 onwards, numerous requests for his release were denied, allegedly due to pressure from the US and Israel.

In a recent interview from his cell in Lannemazan, Abdallah shared how he maintained his mental health by concentrating on the Palestinian "struggle", indicating that without this focus, the long duration of his imprisonment could have negatively impacted his psyche. Decorated with posters of revolutionary icon Che Guevara and postcards from global supporters, Abdallah's cell was filled with newspapers he consumed to stay informed.

Born in 1951 to a Christian family in northern Lebanon, Abdallah co-founded the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions (LARF) in the late 1970s, a small military group committed to opposing Israel and its US ally during Lebanon's civil conflict. Following a series of attacks in Europe attributed to his group, including the killings of diplomats Charles Ray and Yakov Barsimantov, Abdallah was arrested in 1984 after turning himself in.

Although he initially faced charges related to false passports, the discovery of weapons in his possession, including the murder weapon, complicated his potential release. His trial, marked by political tension and media scrutiny following terrorist attacks linked to Lebanese group Hezbollah, ended in a life sentence even as he denied direct involvement in the murders.

Since 1999, Abdallah filed over ten requests for release, but most were either denied or influenced by external political pressures. His struggles were underscored by notable opposition from US officials, including a 2013 letter from then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the French government, hoping to impede his release—a message that later surfaced through WikiLeaks.

This year's appeal court ruling deemed Abdallah's lengthy detention "disproportionate" and stated that he posed no ongoing threat to society. His attorney criticized the enduring political implications of his case, noting that justice should have prevailed sooner without foreign influence.

Annie Ernaux, the 2022 Nobel Prize-winning author, was among his supporters, denouncing Abdallah's lengthy imprisonment as a shameful reflection of the judicial system. Yves Bonnet, a former intelligence chief involved in negotiations for Abdallah's release, expressed that he was treated more harshly than some criminals and reiterated the extent of US pressure to keep him incarcerated. With Abdallah’s release, the significance of his case points to broader issues of political justice in relation to the Israeli-Palestinian context.