Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on July 17, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
French court approves Georges Ibrahim Abdallah's release after 40 years for diplomat murders, contingent on deportation to Lebanon.
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.
($1 = 0.8627 euros)
(Reporting by John Irish and Dominique Vidalon; Additional reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Joe Bavier)
The French court ruled in favor of releasing Georges Ibrahim Abdallah after he served almost 40 years of a life sentence, provided he leaves France.
Georges Abdallah was convicted for his role in the 1982 murders of U.S. military attache Charles Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Biran in Paris.
The Paris Appeals court agreed to Abdallah's release on the condition that he leaves France, and he is expected to be deported to Lebanon.
The U.S. Department of Justice has opposed Abdallah's release, asserting that it would pose a threat to the safety of U.S. diplomats.
A source familiar with the case stated that Abdallah will not have to pay compensation to the victims' families, despite earlier discussions about it.
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