US criticizes French release of jailed Lebanese militant

The United States on Saturday criticized the release from a French prison of pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, who spent more than 40 years behind bars for the killings of two diplomats, one of them American.

Abdallah was detained in 1984 and sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for his involvement in the murders of US military attache Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris.

Earlier this month, a French appeals court ordered Abdallah’s release on the condition that he leave French territory and never return. He left a prison in southwest France on Friday and later arrived in his hometown in Lebanon.

“The United States opposes the French government’s release and expulsion to Lebanon of convicted terrorist Georges Ibrahim Abdallah,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement on social media.

“His release threatens the safety of US diplomats abroad and is a grave injustice to the victims and the families of those killed. The United States will continue to support the pursuit of justice in this matter.”

While Abdallah had been eligible for release since 1999, his previous requests were denied as the United States — a civil party to the case — had consistently opposing his leaving prison.

Abdallah, who is Lebanese of Maronite Christian heritage, has always insisted he is not a “criminal” but a “fighter” for the rights of Palestinians, whom he said were targeted, along with Lebanon, by the United States and Israel.