Lebanese militant says 'struggle' helped him endure French prison
Abdallah is one of the longest-serving prisoners in France, where most convicts with life sentences are freed after less than 30 years.
Between his bed, desk and microwave corner, Abdallah had decorated the yellow walls of his 11-square-metre cell with the flag of the Argentine Marxist revolutionary, but also a map of the world and postcards.
An office chair near his bed was piled high with newspapers.
"If I'm alive in front of you today, it's because I've kept up the fight -- otherwise 40 years (in jail) would turn your brain to mush," said the prisoner, whose hair and beard have turned grey.
AFP visited his cell on July 17, along with a hard-left member of parliament, Andree Taurinya, who used her right as a lawmaker to visit detention centres to see him on the day the court ordered his release.
Dressed in a red sleeveless t-shirt and beige shorts, he greeted her warmly and they posed together for a selfie.
Abdallah said that for more than 40 years he had continued to be a "militant with a struggle" -- even if it was in very "particular" conditions behind bars.
He said he did not foresee a "radical change in (his) struggle outlook" after leaving France and flying home to Lebanon -- the condition for his release.
Birthday calendar
Next to his computer, he had pinned up images of flowers, including poppies and cherry blossom, as well as Palestinian flags and a picture of the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
"Forty years is a lot but you don't feel them go by when you keep up the struggle," he said.
Many of his fellow militants have died over the years however, he said.
"On my computer I have a calendar to keep track of every day: dead comrades, that's in brown, orange is for visits, and green is for birthdays," he explained.
But these days, "the colour brown is taking up more and more space."
Abdallah was detained in 1984 and sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for his involvement, which he denies, in the murders of US military attache Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris.
After his arrest, French police discovered submachine guns and transceiver stations in one of his Paris apartments.
'Pampered'
Lebanese of Maronite Christian heritage, Abdallah has always insisted he is a "fighter" who battled for the rights of Palestinians, and not a "criminal".
Before the decision to release him, he had been eligible for release for 25 years.
But the United States -- a civil party to the case -- had consistently opposed him leaving prison.
The Israeli embassy in Paris objected to the decision to release Abdallah, saying "such terrorists, enemies of the free world, should spend their life in prison".
Abdallah, who considers himself to be a "political prisoner", said he had been "pampered" compared to "what is going on in Gaza and the West Bank, especially for comrades in prison".
His release comes as Israel wages war against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip for a 22nd month, with aid and rights groups warning of mass starvation for civilians trapped in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Deadly Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have also become commonplace.
Abdallah, who founded a now dissolved Marxist anti-Israel militant group in his youth, endorsed recent protests in the West calling for a Gaza ceasefire.
© 2025 AFP
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
4 hours ago
- France 24
'We are neighbours': fleeing Thais and Cambodians call for peace
The death toll from three days of fighting has risen to 33, the majority civilians, after a long-running border dispute sharply escalated into combat waged with jets, artillery, tanks and ground troops. "Relations used to be good -– we were like siblings," said 56-year-old Sai Boonrod, one of hundreds of Thais sheltering at a temple in the town of Kanthararom after evacuating her border village home. "But now things may have changed," she told AFP. "I just want the fighting to end so we can go back to being like siblings again." Over the Cambodian border, 150 kilometres (90 miles) from Sai's temporary home, a similar scene plays out: hundreds of evacuees huddled in makeshift tents on a temple site, surrounded by emergency food rations and their hastily packed clothes. "We are neighbours, we want to be friends," one 50-year-old told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity at the temple shelter in Phumi Bak Thkav. "But they are attacking us. We are fleeing homes because of them." Tensions have long flared over the countries' shared 800-kilometre border, peppered with ancient temple sites claimed by both nations. The previous most deadly clashes broke out between 2008 and 2011 -- leaving at least 28 people dead. But stretching her legs on a bamboo mat, Sai said "it was never this violent" in previous times. She is one of more than 170,000 evacuated from the countries' border zones, but her husband stayed behind to help guard neighbours' livestock and belongings. "I want them to negotiate, to stop firing quickly... so the elderly can return home and the children can go back to school," she said. The UN Security Council held an urgent meeting on Friday and both sides have said they are open to a truce -- but accused the other of undermining armistice efforts. 'End the fighting' This flare-up began with a gun battle in late May killing one Cambodian soldier, and festered with tit-for-tat trade restrictions and border closures before hostilities spiked on Thursday. At 73 years old, Suwan Promsri has lived through many episodes of border friction -- but said this one feels "so much different". He said resentment of Cambodians among Thais -- including himself -- is growing, with patriotic online discourse fanning the flames. In February, Bangkok formally protested to Phnom Penh after a video of women singing a patriotic Khmer song in front of a disputed temple was posted on social media. The fighting has also been accompanied by a wave of online misinformation and disinformation from both sides. "Before the internet, I felt indifferent," said Suwan. "But social media really plays a part in fuelling this hatred." Despite the divisions, he is united with his Thai neighbours, and those over the border in Cambodia, in his calls for peace. "I want the government to realise that people along the border are suffering. Life is difficult," he said. © 2025 AFP
France 24
5 hours ago
- France 24
French left urges Macron to act over US plan to destroy contraceptives
A State Department spokesperson told AFP this week that "a preliminary decision was made to destroy certain" birth control products from "terminated Biden-era USAID contracts." The US Agency for International Development, the country's foreign aid arm, was dismantled by Donald Trump's administration when he returned to office in January, replacing former president Joe Biden. Under the plan, some $9.7 million worth of implant and IUD contraceptives stored in Belgium are reportedly set to be incinerated in France. An open letter signed by French Green leader Marine Tondelier and several female lawmakers called the US decision "an affront to the fundamental principles of solidarity, public health and sexual and reproductive rights that France is committed to defending." In the letter, they urged the French president "not to be complicit, even indirectly, in retrograde policies," saying women's contraception products such as IUDs and implants were intended for "low- and middle-income countries." "Cutting aid for contraception is shameful, destroying products that have already been manufactured and financed is even more mind-boggling," Tondelier told AFP. The Greens urged Macron to request the suspension of the plan "as part of a joint initiative with the European Commission." They also called on him to back humanitarian organisations that say they are ready to redistribute the contraception products. Separately, Mathilde Panot, parliamentary leader of the hard left France Unbowed (LFI) party, also urged Macron and Prime Minister Francois Bayrou to take action. "You have a responsibility to act to prevent this destruction, which will cost lives," she said on X. "These resources are vital, particularly for the 218 million women who do not have access to contraceptive care." The US plan has sparked outrage from global health NGOs, with Doctors Without Borders denouncing the "callous waste." "It is unconscionable to think of these health products being burned when the demand for them globally is so great," said Rachel Milkovich of the medical charity's US office. The State Department spokesperson said the destruction will cost $167,000 and "no HIV medications or condoms are being destroyed." Doctors Without Borders says that other organisations have offered to cover the shipping and distribution costs of the supplies, but the US government declined to sign off. US lawmakers have approved slashing some $9 billion in aid primarily destined for foreign countries.
France 24
8 hours ago
- France 24
US condemns French inquiry into Musk's social media platform X
US officials issued a harsh condemnation Friday of France's criminal investigation into the social network X, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, on suspicion of foreign interference. 'As part of a criminal investigation, an activist French prosecutor is requesting information on X's proprietary algorithm and has classified X as an 'organized crime group,'' the US State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor wrote on their X account. 'Democratic governments should allow all voices to be heard, not silence speech they dislike. The United States will defend the free speech of all Americans against acts of foreign censorship.' Paris cybercrime prosecutors called for the police probe July 11 to investigate suspected crimes—including manipulating and extracting data from automated systems 'as part of a criminal gang.' The social media company last week denied the allegations, calling them 'politically motivated.' X also said it had refused to comply with the prosecutor's request to access its recommendation algorithm and real-time data. The investigation follows two January complaints that alleged the X algorithm had been used for foreign interference in French politics. One of the complaints came from Eric Bothorel, an MP from President Emmanuel Macron's centrist party, who complained of 'reduced diversity of voices and options' and Musk's 'personal interventions' in the platform's management since he took it over. X said it 'categorically denies' all allegations and that the probe 'is distorting French law in order to serve a political agenda and, ultimately, restrict free speech.' 'Democracy is too fragile to let digital platform owners tell us what to think, who to vote for or even who to hate,' Bothorel said after the investigation was announced.
