Palestinian, Lebanese resistance hails order to release Georges Abdallah

On July 17, a court in France ordered the release of Georges Abdallah, a Lebanese revolutionary and long-time fighter for Palestine’s liberation. Abdallah, the longest-held political prisoner in Europe, is scheduled for release in the next few days. On several previous occasions, French courts ruled in favor of his release, but Abdallah has remained behind bars due to U.S. and Zionist pressure.

Below is the statement of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on the order to release Abdallah, followed by the statement by Hezbollah, both issued July 17, 2025.

For decades Workers World Party has called for Abdallah’s release and for freedom for all Palestinian political prisoners.

Update July27

After nearly 41 years in prison, Georges Abdallah was put in a cop car at 3:40 a.m. on July 25 in the French Pyrenees, driven to a local airport, flown on a military plane to Paris and then put on the 9:00 a.m. Air France flight to Beirut.

He had been eligible for parole in 1999, but the United States and Israel had always effectively objected to his requests, since he had been involved in the assassination of the Beirut CIA-agent Lieutenant Colonel Charles R. Ray and a Mossad agent in 1982 during Lebanon’s civil war and an Israeli invasion.

Abdallah made his mark by forming the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions in 1979 in cooperation with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Even though notice was scant, hundreds of his supporters showed up at the Beirut airport to welcome him home, carrying Lebanese and Palestinian flags and the flags of many progressive parties and groups. As he left the airport, Abdallah said: “The condition of freedom is rallying around the resistance! The condition of freedom is rallying around Gaza! The condition of freedom is rallying around the martyrs of the resistance!” (Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network) 

On his way to his hometown Qobeiyat in northern Lebanon, Abdallah said: “Resistance is not weak. It is strong with its martyred leaders. Today, more than ever, we must support the resistance.”

Abdallah concluded, “A fighter in captivity endures only as long as his comrades stand firm on the front lines.” (Mizan Online News Agency)

The Popular Front congratulates the internationalist fighter Georges Abdallah on his [upcoming] release and considers his steadfastness a victory for Palestine and the will of free people.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine congratulates the comrade and internationalist fighter Georges Abdallah on the decision to release him after more than four decades spent in French prisons, in a heroic and exceptional defiance of the most heinous tools of imperialist oppression, and warns against any imperialist and zionist pressures or attempts to thwart this decision, as happened previously.

This decision represents a victory for the will of steadfastness and revolutionary resilience and at the same time embodies a victory for the cause of Palestine, whose banner this great progressive leader carried with pride and competence.

The continued detention of comrade Abdallah, despite a judicial decision for his release, constituted a stain on the forehead of French and American imperialism and a blatant complicity with the zionist entity. It reminds us that this arrest and detention is purely political, and represented a blatant violation of the law and decisions of the French judiciary. It [reflects] his principled stance rejecting all attempts at blackmail and bargaining and his insistence on the legitimacy of the Palestinian resistance, considering it a legitimate option with no compromise.

The Front affirms that Abdallah’s detention throughout these years sends a clear message to the world about the necessity of confronting the forces of colonialism and global arrogance, exposing zionist and imperialist crimes and rejecting subservience and submission. Furthermore, his legendary steadfastness represents an inspiring model for the Arab and international revolutionary left and should mark the beginning of a true awakening in the battle for national and social liberation and for a free Palestine from the river to the sea.

The Front highly appreciates the efforts of all free people in the world, foremost among them the International Campaign for Solidarity with Georges Abdallah, and all parties, groups and progressive internationalist activists, who did not hesitate for a single moment to continue pressure and struggle for his release, believing that defending Abdallah is defending justice and the Palestinian cause, which Abdallah made his primary compass of struggle.

The Front also values comrade Abdallah’s stances inside his prison and his steadfast support for Palestinian prisoners in their struggles and his engaging in symbolic hunger strikes in their support, foremost among them the imprisoned leader comrade Ahmad Sa’adat, Secretary-General of the Popular Front, emphasizing that the prisoners’ battle is one battle against oppression and colonialism, and that international solidarity with the Palestinian people’s struggle is not limited by bars or confined by prisons.

The Front calls for escalating the struggle for the release of all prisoners and political detainees in zionist and Western prisons and sees this battle as an integral part of the international struggle against injustice and colonialism.

Glory to the internationalist fighter Georges Abdallah. … Freedom for Palestinian prisoners in zionist occupation prisons and Western prisons, and victory for Palestine and the resistance.

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

Central Media Department

July 17, 2025

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

The 41 years spent by the struggler Georges Abdallah in French dungeons constituted a firm condemnation of the state of law, justice, freedoms and human rights protection and proved the falsity of integrity and neutrality.

The great injustice to which the honorable resistance fighter Georges Abdallah was subjected and his continued detention despite the expiration of his legal sentence will remain a stain of shame on the record of the French judicial and political system. This human and legal injustice reveals that the standards of democracy and the preservation of freedoms in France are subject to demand, which has taken it away from all logic of justice and political correctness to blind bias towards the whims and desires dictated by the interests of Washington and “Tel Aviv” and imposed on decision-makers there.

As Hezbollah blesses this heroic resistance fighter with this high honor, which he earned through his steadfastness, firmness and adherence to his principles in defending the truth and supporting the oppressed, principles he never abandoned throughout his captivity, we see him today as a symbol for every prisoner, struggler, resistance fighter and honorable person who raised the banner of pride and dignity in the face of tyrants and in defense of humanity, its rights, land and principles.

Today, as the French judiciary has acknowledged the right to release this great Arab and international resistance fighter and struggler, we hope that this decision will take its natural course towards immediate implementation and that it will not be aborted under the weight of narrow French political calculations or by succumbing again to zionist and American pressures that previously prevented his release, falsely accusing him and out of injustice and hatred for every resistance fighter and struggler in the world whom Georges Abdallah represents.