Lebanese militant Georges Abdallah’s brother, Joseph, spoke to NOW on Thursday about his relative’s imminent release, saying that “Georges did not spend 28 years in jail to leave prison and apologize.”
A French court on Thursday ruled that Georges Abdallah—a 61-year-old founding member of the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions, with ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)—could be released from prison on condition he is expelled from French territory. The French Interior Ministry has until January 14 to issue an expulsion order.
Joseph Abdallah denied rumors claiming that his brother converted to Islam as a prelude for joining Hezbollah upon his return.
“Georges [Abdallah] was never a Christian in the first place for him to convert to Islam. He is a militant who respects both religions and this is a lie [fabricated] by the French judiciary and the US and Lebanese intelligence services.”
Joseph Abdallah added that the “French judiciary is a prostitute for the United States, while the Lebanese government itself is a prostitute for both the US and France.”
“Georges Abdallah has scandalized Lebanese, French, and international justice.”
He also told NOW that the entire Abdallah family is being persecuted by the French judiciary.
“The only means of communicating with my brother were by telephone or letters, which made the French [judiciary] feel [the gravity] of the scandal and drove it to release [Georges].”
“The initial prison sentence was over in 1999, but it was due to political pressure that my brother ended up spending fourteen extra years in jail,” he continued.
Meanwhile, Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi welcomed the French decision to release the PFLP militant.
“It is not normal in a country which respects laws for a person to spend more time in jail than his sentence,” the minister told NOW.
Georges Abdallah, 61, was tried in 1986 by the French judiciary for possession of arms and explosives and he was sentenced to four years in prison. In 1987, he was tried again and sentenced to life imprisonment for participating in the assassinations of American and Israeli diplomats Charles Robert Ray and Yakov Barsmintov.
Lebanon’s foreign minister also spoke to NOW, saying that the “decision is a great relief, especially since Georges Abdallah served his sentence in a French prsion.”
However, Mansour denied receiving any information until now about the release from his French counterpart or from the Lebanese Embassy in France.
