PARIS — A French court on Thursday postponed a much-awaited decision on freeing pro-Palestinian Lebanese terrorist Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, jailed 40 years ago for the 1982 killings of an Israeli and US diplomat.
The Paris appeals court, which had been scheduled to deliver its verdict on Thursday, said it needed more time and would now revisit the case on June 19.
Abdallah, 73, was sentenced to life in prison for his involvement in the murders of US military attaché Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov.
The United States, a civil party to the case, has consistently opposed his release but Lebanese authorities have repeatedly said he should be freed from jail.
In November, a French court ordered his release conditional on Abdallah, first detained in 1984 and convicted in 1987 over the murders, leaving France.
But France’s anti-terror prosecutors, arguing that he had not changed his political views, appealed the decision which was consequently suspended.
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)
One of France’s longest-serving inmates, Abdallah has never expressed regret for his actions, claiming he was a “fighter” and not a “criminal”
Wounded in 1978 during Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, he joined the Marxist-Leninist PFLP, which carried out a string of plane hijackings in the 1960s and 1970s. It is banned as a terror group by the US and EU.
Then, in the late 1970s, Abdallah, a Christian, founded his terror group, the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions (LARF). It made contact with other extreme-left outfits, including Italy’s Red Brigades and the German Red Army Faction (RAF).
The appeals court said Thursday the delay was prompted by the unresolved question of whether Abdallah had proof that he had paid compensation to the plaintiffs, something he has consistently refused to do.
His lawyer, Jean-Louis Chalanset, called the court’s motive “judicial pettiness.”
He said imprisoned members of other extremist groups active in the 1970s and 80s — including “political prisoners” belonging to French group Action Directe, or Corsican and Basque extremists — had all been set free.
Lebanese terrorist Georges Ibrahim Abdallah sits during his trial, for being an accomplice in the murder of two diplomats, including Charles Ray of the US and Israeli Yacov Barsimantov, for which Abdallah was condemned to life prison at the courthouse of Lyon, central eastern France, on July 3, 1986. (Photo by AFP)
He added the court’s stance risked creating a “de facto life imprisonment.”
Abdallah is one of the longest-serving prisoners in France- most convicts serving life sentences are freed after less than 30 years.
Several hundred people demonstrated on Thursday in Toulouse, around 100 kilometers (65 miles) from Abdallah’s prison, demanding his release.
Police, however, banned any such protests in the Paris region, saying they feared a disturbance to public order because of “a tense social and international context.”
Abdallah still enjoys some support from public figures in France, including left-wing deputies and Nobel prize-winning author Annie Ernaux, but has mostly been forgotten by the general public.
Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report.
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