After four decades, Georges Abdallah may finally leave prison, and the movement he helped inspire shows no sign of fading. [Getty]

After more than 40 years behind bars, Georges Abdallah, the Lebanese communist militant once labelled France’s “public enemy number one,” is finally poised to walk free.

Early this morning, a Paris appeals court granted conditional release to the 73-year-old, who has been imprisoned since 1984 for his alleged involvement in the assassinations of US and Israeli diplomats.

His release, scheduled for 25 July, comes with a stipulation: he must be permanently expelled from French territory. Lebanon has confirmed in a letter to the court that it will take responsibility for his return.

Yet beneath the legal decision lies a decades-long grassroots campaign, recently invigorated by Israel’s genocide on Gaza, which activists say was crucial in securing Abdallah’s freedom.

Georges Abdallah: a symbol of resistance 

“To us, this is first and foremost Georges Abdallah’s own victory”, Tom Martin, a French member of the support collective campaigning for his release, told The New Arab. “Despite over four decades in prison, he has remained steadfast in his political convictions: communist and anti-imperialist.”

Martin emphasised that the victory also belongs to the wider network of supporters in France, Lebanon, Palestine, and beyond.

“After 40 years, Georges Abdallah has not only been remembered, he has become a symbol for a new generation,” Martin remarked. 

Abdallah was given a life sentence in 1987 for his involvement in the murders of US diplomat Charles Ray in Paris and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in 1982, and in the attempted murder of US Consul General Robert Homme in Strasbourg in 1984.

Abdallah has always insisted he is a “fighter” who battled for the rights of Palestinians and not a “criminal”. 

His refusal to renounce his beliefs, including his characterisation of the assassinations as “acts of resistance,” made him a divisive figure in courtrooms but a revered one in the streets.

“This demonstrates that hope for the peoples of the region lies in resistance, and must serve as a foundation to bolster solidarity with Palestine, its resistance, and its 10,800 political prisoners,” added Martin.

A long road to liberty blocked by politics

Although technically eligible for release since 1999, Abdallah’s petitions were repeatedly denied. His lawyer attributes this largely to political pressure from the United States, which is a civil party in the case, as well as successive French governments.

“It is both a judicial victory and a political scandal. He should have been released long ago,” said Jean-Louis Chalanset, Abdallah’s lawyer, following the hearing.

The US has consistently opposed his release, while French courts have delayed decisions, citing his refusal to pay damages or express remorse, demanding a “significant effort” to compensate victims’ families.

At a new hearing on 19 June, however, without elaborating on his client’s position or the source of the funds, Georges Abdallah’s lawyer informed the judges that €16,000 was now in his prison account, available to the civil parties, including the United States.

Still, many believe the turning point came not in the courtroom, but on the streets.

“The growing mobilisation was decisive. He had become Europe’s longest-held political prisoner, and that unprecedented sentence became indefensible,” Martin said.

Supporters gathered annually outside Lannemezan prison, where Abdallah was held. His name became a fixture at pro-Palestine rallies, with murals and petitions appearing in universities and labour unions across France, MENA and beyond.

In Tunisia, pro-Palestine activist Wael Naouar, who took part in a protest for Abdallah’s release on Wednesday, described the mood after the court’s decision as “mixed joy and scepticism,” citing France’s history of sidestepping legal rulings in Abdallah’s case.

The French public prosecutor may still appeal the decision, but legally, this will not delay Abdallah’s return to Lebanon, scheduled for next Friday.

In Lebanon, relief and caution 

News of Abdallah’s impending release was received with cautious optimism in Lebanon, where his case has long been a significant, though often overlooked, diplomatic issue.

“Georges Abdallah is the longest-serving political prisoner in Europe, a continent that prides itself on liberty,” Abdel Rahman Bizri, a Lebanese MP involved in a campaign that met Prime Minister Nawaf Salam shortly before the ruling, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Bizri acknowledged that, while Lebanon had responded when called upon, the issue was never prioritised in French-Lebanese relations.

“It should have been treated with greater seriousness,” he added

Others expressed concern that French authorities might find ways to delay his departure.

“There is worry that France could impose administrative obstacles, as it has before, especially since his release depends on deportation”, said Wadih Al-Asmar, head of the Lebanese Centre for Human Rights. “We urge the Lebanese state to ensure this ruling is implemented.”

What to expect now?

Georges Abdallah was, in the 1980s, France’s “public enemy number one” and one of the country’s most famous prisoners. Not because of his case, but because he was long believed, wrongly, to be behind the wave of bombings in 1985-1986 that killed 13 people, including seven at the Tati store on Rue de Rennes, and sparked widespread fear across the capital.

The true perpetrators, pro-Iranian militants, were identified two months after Georges Abdallah was sentenced to life imprisonment.

He has never admitted involvement in the assassinations of diplomats in Paris. Still, he has always described them as “acts of resistance” against “Israeli and American oppression,” in the context of the Lebanese civil war and Israel’s 1978 invasion of southern Lebanon.

He has consistently refused to renounce his convictions. His group, the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions (FARL), has long been dissolved and “has not committed any violent acts since 1984.”

Nevertheless, Abdallah remained imprisoned, not for what he might do, many argue, but for what he represents.

With his July release approaching, activists remain vigilant. While the court ruling cannot be suspended by appeal, supporters are wary given the history of delays.

In January 2013, a French court approved his conditional release, subject to immediate expulsion to Lebanon. However, the Interior Ministry, then led by Manuel Valls, refused to sign the expulsion order needed to implement the decision.

Today, the ministry under Bruno Retailleau, part of the right-wing figure critical of Abdallah’s release, could similarly obstruct the ruling.

“For once, the French authorities have acted independently of pressure from Israel and the US,” said Robert Abdallah, his brother, to the AFP. “I never thought this day would come.”

For many in France’s pro-Palestinian circles and across the Arab world, Georges Abdallah’s release after four decades marks not the end of a struggle, but the dawn of a new era, one in which anti-Israeli voices grow louder, challenging a pro-Israel status quo that has long gone unchallenged.