After 40 years, French court orders release of Lebanese prisoner convicted of murdering Israeli diplomat

A French court on Thursday ruled that Lebanese communist militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah should be released from prison after serving 41 years of detention for the murder of Israeli diplomat Yaakov Bar Simantov and U.S. military attache Col. Charles Ray in 1982. 

The Lebanese terrorist was also charged with the attempted murder of U.S. Consul General Robert Homme in Strasbourg in 1984. 

Abdallah is one of France’s longest-serving prisoners, and has been eligible for parole since 1999, although all previous petitions for release were rejected after pressure from the U.S. Department of Justice and French general prosecutors. 

The French court ruled that Abdallah could be released on July 25, on the condition that he permanently leave France. It is expected that he will be deported to Lebanon, if released next Friday. 

Robert Abdallah, Georges’ brother who lives in Lebanon, said he was “delighted” to hear the news. 

"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," Robert said. He blamed Israeli and U.S. pressure for keeping Georges in prison for so long following his parole eligibility. 

Abdallah, 73, was sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for his roles in the two murders and the attempted murder of Homme, and French officials have consistently referred to him as a “terrorist.” 

Bar Simantov was a Mossad operative working at the Israeli embassy in Paris, who was gunned down in front of his wife and 8-year-old daughter. The shooter was identified as Abdallah’s girlfriend and co-conspirator, Jacqueline Esber. 

U.S. Army Colonel Charles R. Ray, a Vietnam veteran, who was married with two children, was ambushed by Abdallah about twelve weeks before Simantov’s killing. He was shot in the back of the head while walking to his car. 

While the shooting of Simantov was carried out by Esber, the murder weapons used in the killings of Simantov and Ray were found in Abdallah’s hotel room. The Lebanese citizen never admitted to any part in their deaths. Despite being a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and later a founder of the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions (LARF), known terrorist groups, he refused to accept the label terrorist, describing himself as an Arab freedom fighter. 

Abdallah’s lawyer, Jean-Louis Chalanset, called the decision of the French court "both a judicial victory and a political scandal,” saying his client has spent the longest time in prison in France for acts related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

Chalanset said that Abdallah wishes to return to his home village of Qoubaiyat in north Lebanon to spend the rest of his life close to family. On Thursday morning, Chalanset expressed concern that Abdallah could be the target of an Israeli drone attack if he returns to Lebanon. 

"In any case, he will die as a free man in Beirut, as a resistance fighter," Chalanset said, stating that Abdallah continues to see himself as "an armed communist who supports the Palestinian struggle and fights against the Israeli invasion of his country.”