French judiciary considers new request to release "world's oldest prisoner"

French justice is set to consider on Monday a new request for parole for Lebanese Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, who has spent 40 years in prison after being convicted of complicity in the assassinations of American and Israeli diplomats. Although French law has allowed him to be released since 1999, his repeated requests for parole have been consistently rejected.

Abdallah's lawyer, Jean-Louis Challancet, said his client was "the world's longest-serving prisoner linked to the conflict in the Middle East," and that "it is time for him to be released." He added that Abdallah feared for his safety if he remained in France, and called for his deportation to Lebanon.

Abdullah, 73, was active in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine when he was arrested on October 24, 1984. In 1987, he was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of complicity in the assassination of American diplomat Charles Robert Day and Israeli Yaakov Barsimantov in Paris in 1982, as well as the attempted assassination of American Consul General Robert Aum in Strasbourg in 1984.

In 2013, the French judiciary initially agreed to release him on condition that he be deported to Lebanon, but the French Interior Ministry did not issue the deportation order necessary to implement this decision, which kept him in prison.

In 2020, Abdallah renewed his attempts through correspondence with Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, but these efforts were not met with a response.

Some analysts believe that one of the factors influencing the refusal to release Abdullah is American pressure, as Washington was one of the parties that filed lawsuits against Abdullah, and it has strongly opposed his release for decades.

In May 2023, 28 French left-wing MPs signed a statement in support of Abdallah’s release, calling on the authorities to end his detention, which they said had exceeded all standards of justice.

However, the French government is still hesitant to take this step, amid ongoing solidarity demonstrations outside the Lanmezan prison where Abdallah is serving his sentence.

Source: French