Court decision granted him parole/an appeal by French prosecutors that effectively keeps Georges Abdallah, behind bars.

On 21 November 2012 a French court granted a parole for the longest held political prisoners in France, George Abdallah, but he would continue to remain behind bars due to an appeal by the state prosecutor.

Supporters of the Lebanese resistant welcomed a Paris court decision that granted him parole.

But the group denounced in a statement the French prosecutor's appeal that effectively keeps Georges Abdallah, behind bars.

Abdallah, 61 and a Lebanese resistant, was arrested in 1984 and three years later was sentenced to life prison for his alleged involvement in the 1982 murders of U.S. military attache Charles Robert Ray and Israeli Mossad Agent Yacov Barsimantov.

His eighth appeal for parole was granted on condition that he will be deported immediately, but his hopes of being freed were dashed when state prosecutors launched their appeal.

Abdallah had been eligible for parole from 1999 onwards but failed in seven previous bids to be released.

The parole was criticized by the U.S. ambassador to France, Charles Rivkin, who argued that Abdallah could still be a threat if released.

On 27 November 2012 the International Campaign for the Liberation of George Abdallah will hold a protest near the French Embassy in Beirut in solidarity with Abdallah and to denounce the appeal by the state prosecutor (French Ministry of Justice) against the Paris court decision that granted him parole

by Bassam AL Kontar