French Court Rejects Appeal of Jailed Lebanese Leftist
A French court rejected Tuesday an appeal for the release of a Lebanese man detained since 1984 in connection with terrorism-related crimes.
George Ibrahim Abdullah was sentenced to life in prison in 1987 after a court found him guilty of the conspiring in the 1982 assassination of two diplomats, an American and an Israeli.
Abdullah, 57, is the former head of leftist Armed Lebanese Revolutionary Factions and has been in jail since 1984.
The Paris Appeal court rejected a request a conditional release saying Abdullah "admitted to the political nature of his activity during several hearings and defended his beliefs against imperialism," defense lawyer Jacque Fergui said.
In 2007, the court rejected another appeal for Abdullah”s release on the premises that he "remains a brutal and determined activist who could continue his revolutionary struggle in case he returns to Lebanon."