French authorities released Pro-Palestine Lebanese activist Georges Ibrahim Abdallah left his prison in France early Friday after more than 40 years behind bars.

For his supporters, Abdallah’s release brings long-overdue justice as his return has symbolic weight in his country of origin.

“This moment isn’t about sentimentality – it’s about the long wait, 40 years of it. It’s about resilience in the face of delays, appeals, discrimination. This is not a time for nostalgia, but rather a culmination of time and justice,” said his brother, Robert Abdallah.

Abdallah was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for the assassinations of US military attaché Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov.

BREAKING: Lebanese freedom fighter Georges Ibrahim Abdallah has been released from prison in France after more than 40 years behind bars, a source close to the case told AFP. pic.twitter.com/rtAO5z75Wl

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) July 25, 2025

While he has always denied direct involvement, Abdallah never distanced himself from the resistance movement he co-founded, the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions, a Marxist group aligned with Palestine and pan-Arab causes that also sought to evict foreign occupation from Lebanese soil.

Despite multiple court rulings over the years recommending his release, Abdallah remained in prison due to political pressure – particularly from the United States and the Zionist entity. He ultimately served four decades in France’s Lannemezan prison, steadfastly refusing to express remorse.

Although he completed the minimum sentence in 1999 he remained behind bars, multiple requests for parole having been denied.

Preparations to welcome him have been under way ever since, according to Catherine Daher, a journalist and activist for Lebanon’s National Campaign to Free Georges Abdallah.

“We can say that preparations to welcome comrade Georges have been ongoing since 1999, when his sentence officially ended,” Daher said.

“Since then, we’ve faced repeated release orders – in 2003, 2013 and 2024 – that were blocked for political reasons,” she said, making him “the longest-held political prisoner in Europe”.

Now, at 74, Abdallah is preparing to return to his hometown of Qoubaiyat in northern Lebanon – not just as a free man resuming civilian life, but as a deeply symbolic figure.

Source: Agencies