French Court Grants Freedom to Lebanese Militant After Decades

A French court has ordered the release of Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, imprisoned for nearly 40 years for attacks on American and Israeli diplomats. Abdallah, former leader of the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Brigade, was sentenced to life for his role in murders and attempted murder in the early 1980s.

In a significant legal development, a French court on Thursday ordered the release of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, a Lebanese militant who has spent almost four decades behind bars. Abdallah was convicted for orchestrating attacks against American and Israeli diplomats in France during the early 1980s.

The former leader of the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Brigade (LARB) was sentenced to life in prison in 1987. He was found guilty of involvement in the 1982 killings of U.S. military attaché Charles Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris, as well as the attempted murder of U.S. Consul General Robert Homme in Strasbourg in 1984.

Requests for comments from officials at the French appeals court remained unanswered at the time of the report.

(With inputs from agencies.)