French policemen escort Georges Ibrahim Abdallah (C), a Lebanese terrorist sentenced to life in prison for the murder of two diplomats, one American and the other Israeli, as Abdallah leaves Pau's Courthouse, southwestern France, on February 18, 2010. (Jean-Louis Duzert / AFP)
A Lebanese man imprisoned for killing American and Israeli diplomats almost 40 years ago is expected to return to Lebanon too quickly for French prosecutors to appeal an court order freeing him, AFP reports.
Georges Ibrahim Abdallah is set to be freed from a prison in the south of France on Friday, July 25, on the condition that he leave French territory and never return. Several sources before the hearing said that it was planned for him to be flown to Paris and then to Beirut.
French anti-terror prosecutors argue that he has never changed his political views, which legitimized the murders of US military attache Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in the 1980s as a “fighter” battling for the rights of Palestinians. He has also refused to pay compensation to his victims’ families.
A protester holds a flag that reads in French, “Free Georges Abdallah” during a rally to demand the release of Lebanese terrorist Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, in prison for some 40 years, in Toulouse on February 19, 2025. (Matthieu Rondel / AFP)
In Lebanon, his brother Robert Abdallah says he is overjoyed.
“We’re delighted. I didn’t expect the French judiciary to make such a decision nor for him to ever be freed, especially after so many failed requests for release,” he says. “For once, the French authorities have freed themselves from Israeli and US pressure.”
Lebanese authorities have repeatedly said Abdallah should be freed from jail, and had written to the appeals court to say they would arrange his return home.
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