A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #363 - Spotlight - Victorious Struggle: Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, Finally Free and Still Standing! (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

After 41 years of incarceration in France, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah is 
finally free following a legal victory and a years-long campaign. A look 
back at the mobilization for his release. ---- Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, 
finally free! He spent 41 years in prison for refusing to utter the 
simple words "I regret." A former activist in the Lebanese Revolutionary 
Armed Factions (FARL), he was imprisoned for the assassination of an 
American and Israeli diplomat in 1982, something he always denied but 
never politically disavowed.

Despite his possible release since 1999, it has been rejected by all 
French governments under pressure from the U.S. State Department. 
Returning to Lebanon, where he was welcomed with jubilation, he 
challenged the passivity of Arab public opinion, particularly that of 
Egypt, in the face of the genocide in Gaza. In an interview[1], he also 
recalled the French and American responsibilities in the Sabra and 
Shatila massacres.

Four decades of mobilization
The mobilization for Georges's release is already a significant 
political episode in social history and in the struggles of immigration, 
decolonization, and the working-class neighborhoods that spearheaded it. 
This mobilization was initiated by a national committee for his release 
created in the 1990s and resulted in annual demonstrations towards the 
Lannemezan prison where Georges was incarcerated, by dozens of 
committees in major cities across France, the courageous decisions of 
organizations such as the United Front of Immigration and Working-Class 
Neighborhoods (FUIQP), which made Georges Ibrahim Abdallah its honorary 
president in 2015, and local mobilizations such as that of the residents 
of Bagnolet in 2013, which led the municipality to name him an honorary 
citizen of the city. The mobilization for Georges was part of the 
mobilization for Palestine and even more broadly.

The mobilizations also took place internationally, in Lebanon, of 
course, and even in the Maghreb. They converged with those of 
Palestinian figures imprisoned by Israel, such as Marwan Barghouti and 
Ahmed Saadat, or even in the USA with Mumia Abu-Jamal and Leonard 
Peltier (the former's mobilization saved him from the death penalty, the 
latter's sentence commuted to house arrest this year). These other 
unsuccessful release campaigns should put into perspective the idea of a 
half-hearted victory after 41 years of incarceration, reminding us that 
Georges is not an isolated case. Our mobilizations must make us pay the 
price of his incarcerations by exposing the ferocity and hypocrisy of 
the imperialists and by providing opportunities for mass popular and 
political education! Georges Ibrahim Abdallah aptly articulated the 
reason for his release, as we did a year ago[2]: "If they agreed to 
release me, it's thanks to this mobilization, which is bottom-up"[3].

In this period of colonial genocide in Gaza, bearing the stamp of the 
"war on terror" diktat that is now leading us to an advanced process of 
fascism, his release this summer was a moment of rare victory and joy 
that should not be ignored!

Nicolas Pasadena (UCL Montreuil)

Validate

[1]Interview with the Lebanese TV channel Al Mayadeen, August 3, 2025.

[2]"Georges Ibrahim Abdallah: 40 Years of Judicial and Political 
Harassment," Alternative libertaire, no. 353, October 2024.

[3]"Georges Abdallah Welcomes the 'Mobilization' That Led to the 
Decision to Release Him," Le Monde, July 17, 2025.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Lutte-victorieuse-Georges-Ibrahim-Abdallah-enfin-libre-et-toujours-debout
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