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INPRIMATU
International Day for the Liberation of Abdallah, a 38-year-old prisoner in France
  • Lebanese George Abdalla is one of the oldest prisoners in Europe, has been imprisoned in French jails since 1984 and on 2 April he has been declared an international day for his freedom.
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Abdallah was arrested in France in 1984 and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Paris Anti-Terrorist Tribunal in 1987. In French jails there is a so-called security period which, once passed, can go to the streets on parole. Abdalla met this deadline in 1999, but the French authorities have always sought excuses for not doing so. Since 2012, French justice has already twice authorised her release, but the Ministry of the Interior has always obstructed her release, the last on 10 November. Lebanon has shown its willingness to welcome the prisoner.

Georges Ibrahim Abdallah was born in 1951 in northern Lebanon, within a Christian family. He entered the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (FPLP) very young. In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon and caused 25,000 deaths in Galilee (La Paz), 45,000 wounded, the destruction of Beirut, the massacres in the Sabra and Xatila refugee camps, etc. The Palestinian and Lebanese guerrillas tried to extend the response to the whole world. In the case of France, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Lebanon (FARL in French) committed two very special killings: Charles Ray, US military officer at the French Embassy and Yakov Barsimantov, French head of the Israeli secret services, the so-called Mossad.

In the document submitted to the editor, Amnesty and Askatasuna have shown their solidarity with the prisoner and have asked for his freedom: "Our fighting solidarity with Georges Abdallah and the political prisoners fighting for the liberation of their peoples and against oppression and the exploitation of classes."