Overview

• The Parquet général lodged a cassation appeal on 21 July against the 17 July Court of Appeal decision; because the appeal is non-suspensive, Abdallah’s conditional release remains scheduled for 25 July
• Under the release terms, Abdallah must leave France and is barred from returning, and Lebanese authorities have arranged a flight from Roissy airport to Beirut
• The prosecutor argues that granting freedom to a terrorism convict without probationary measures conflicts with Cassation Chamber jurisprudence requiring such safeguards
• Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, 74, has served a life sentence since his 1987 conviction for complicity in the 1982 assassinations of US and Israeli diplomats and has been eligible for parole for over 25 years
• A supporters’ collective in the mining basin has campaigned for his liberation since 2006, and Lebanese officials have publicly welcomed his imminent return