French court strips terrorist of honorary title

A French court this week nullified an honorary title conferred on the murderer of an Israeli diplomat.

The administrative court of Montreuil on Thursday nullified the honorary residency that the suburb of Bagnolet conferred on Georges Abdallah, according to a report published on Friday by the Le Figaro daily.

Abdallah, a pro-Palestinian militant, was sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for his role in the 1982 assassinations of Yacov Bar-Simantov, a second counsellor at the Israeli embassy in Paris, and Charles Ray, a US military attache serving in Paris.

Bagnolet’s city council, where the Communist party has a majority, declared him an honorary citizen on Dec. 11, and called him a political prisoner who should be released. That motion was challenged in court by opposition aldermen, according to JSSnews.com.

The attorney representing the opposition, Jeremie Boulay, told the news site that the court’s decision was based on regulations limiting municipalities to acting on items that will lead to the betterment of the lives of residents.