REPORT: Kobayat residents protest lack of progress in George Abdallah's release

Kobayat residents organized a demonstration on Wednesday in the town’s main square to protest against the decision of French Interior Minister Manuel Valls who refused to sign the court’s decision that ruled in favor of the Lebanese national George Ibrahim Abdallah's provisional release.

The head of the committee tasked to receive Abdallah in his hometown of Kobayat, Father Nassim Kastoun, said that the minister’s decision is "politicized".

In this context, Father Kastoun delivered a statement on behalf of the residents in which he addressed President Michel Sleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri and PM Najib Mikati, urging them to exert maximum efforts to ensure the release of Abdallah and to form a ministerial committee that would be in charge of contacting French authorities.

For his part, Maurice Abdallah, George’s brother, denounced the human rights violations France is committing against his sibling, accusing the French state of protecting US and Israeli Interests. He also threatened of taking escalatory measures if the Lebanese authorities do not take action in this regard.

Abdallah had been in prison for over 28 years, even though French law limits the maximum sentence of any prisoner to 18.

He was accused of engaging in commando operations carried out by the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions. However, the court was not able to present concrete evidence against him in this regard so far.

He was arrested in 1984 and sentenced to life in prison three years later for his alleged involvement in the 1982 murders of U.S. military attache Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov.