Georges Ibrahim Abdallah had been released from French prison earlier Friday after 40 years in prison.
A Pro-Palestinian Lebanese fighter imprisoned since 1984, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, returned to Beirut after spending more than four decades in a French prison for his involvement in the killings of two diplomats.
The French authorities released Abdallah early Friday provided that it never returns to France. Family members welcomed him in the VIP lounge of the airport, while dozens of supporters gathered nearby, waving flags from the Palestinian and Lebanese Communist Party.
Songs and cheers broke out while Abdallah appeared, with greatly greeting it as a symbol of resistance, reported the AFP news agency. Abdallah’s return marks the end of one of the longest detention in France involving a political prisoner.
Friday, shortly before 3:40 a.m. (01:30 GMT), a convoy of six vehicles with turn signals was seen when leaving the Lannemezan prison in the south of France, according to journalists from the AFP news agency on the ground. A source confirmed that the 74 -year -old man had been released and then climbed a flight to Lebanon.
Abdallah, who was found guilty in 1987 for his role in the murders of the military attachment of the United States Charles Robert Ray and the Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris, had long been eligible for the Liberation. However, repeated requests have been rejected, often due to pressure from the United States, which was a civil party in the case of Abdallah.
Last month, the Paris Court of Appeal ruled in favor of its release, in force on Friday, provided that Abdallah leaves French territory and never returns.
His lawyer, Jean-Louis Chalanset, told AFP that the veteran had appeared “very happy” during their last visit “even if he knows that he returns in the Middle East in an extremely difficult context for Lebanese and Palestinian populations”.
Abdallah, the founder of the now disappeared Lebanese revolutionary armed armed factions, had declared during a recent visit to a legislator, which was a “militant with a struggle”. French police discovered machine gun pistols and communication equipment in one of his apartments at the time of his arrest.
Abdallah has never expressed his regret for his actions and has always insisted that he is a “fighter” who fought for the rights of the Palestinians and is not a “criminal”.
The Paris Court described its behavior in prison as flawless and said in November that it posed “no serious risk in terms of new laws on terrorism”.
The Court of Appeal cited the duration of the detention of Abdallah and its advanced age, calling its continuous “disproportionate” imprisonment. In France, prisoners serving perpetuity sentences are generally released after less than 30 years.
Abdallah’s family said they would greet him at Beirut airport before going to his hometown of Kobayat in northern Lebanon, where a reception was planned.
