Journaliste : Ramin Mazaheri
Cameraman : Chris Den Hond, durée : 2’30
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The Hollande administration has continued to fight the release of pro-Palestinian political prisoner Georges Abdallah. Abdallah has been jailed for 29 years for heading a pro-Palestinian organization which claimed responsibility for the assassination of an Israeli envoy and an American soldier.
Abdallah’s supporters say his trial was marked by both political manipulation and insufficient evidence of his guilt.
France’s Minister of Justice paroled Abdallah in January, but he is still in jail because Interior Minister Manuel Valls has refused to give the deportation order which would send him back to Lebanon. It was expected that Abdallah would still be released, but the French government is now arguing that because the deportation order did not come first, Abdallah cannot be freed. Many say this is only an effort to keep the case tied up in the courts.
In Beirut, Abdallah’s supporters have recently held two major protest rallies outside the French embassy, even pelting the building with eggs. Many in France have been appalled by the decision of Valls, and there have been late-night protests outside the minister’s personal residence with chants of, “Valls ! Wake up ! Liberate Georges Abdallah !”
French courts are now expected to make their final ruling on March 21, but many say that in the case of Georges Abdallah, nothing is final.
Analysts say by postponing their decision France has, once again, bowed to pressure from the United States and Israel. But that won’t silence the international outcry demanding the liberation of Georges Abdallah.
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