French court backs release of Lebanese militant jailed for US, Israeli diplomat murders

By John Irish and Dominique Vidalon

PARIS (Reuters) -A French court on Thursday ruled in favour of releasing Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah from prison, after he served almost 40 years of a life sentence for attacks on U.S. and Israeli diplomats in France.

The Paris Appeals court agreed to Abdallah's release on July 25 on the condition he leaves France, a judicial source said. A second source familiar with the case said he would be deported to Lebanon.

Abdallah is the former head of the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions. He was jailed in 1987 for his role in the 1982 murders in Paris of U.S. military attache Charles Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov and for the attempted murder of U.S. Consul General Robert Homme in Strasbourg in 1984.

The U.S. Department of Justice and France's general prosecutor have for years vigorously opposed his release, and eight previous release requests had been rejected.

Neither Abdallah's lawyer nor the Lebanese and U.S. embassies were immediately available for comment.

In a hearing in February, the Paris court said Abdallah should make an effort to compensate his victims' families, according to a person familiar with the matter.

His lawyer said in June that around 16,000 euros ($18,546) had been disbursed into his account, an amount the U.S. Department of Justice and France's general prosecutor said was insufficient and did not come from Abdallah.

A source familiar with the case said on Thursday that Abdallah will not have to pay compensation to the victims.

It was not clear if there could be further appeals.

Abdallah, 74, has remained a staunch defender of the Palestinian cause.

The Paris court has described his behaviour in prison as irreproachable and said in November that he posed "no serious risk in terms of committing new terrorism acts."

However, the U.S. Department of Justice has asserted that his release would pose a threat to the safety of U.S. diplomats.

Washington has also used Abdallah's previous comments that he would return to his hometown Qobayyat on the Lebanese-Syrian border as a reason not to release him, given the recent conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters.

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(Reporting by John Irish and Dominique Vidalon; Additional reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Joe Bavier)