After long years of prolonged arbitrary detention, the French authorities have finally released the political prisoner George Ibrahim Abdallah after more than 41 years in French prisons, one of the clearest and longest-standing cases of political arbitrary detention in contemporary Europe.

The continued imprisonment of George Abdallah, despite the end of his legal sentence, constituted a blatant violation of the principles of justice and human rights, and a clear disregard for the rule of law and judicial independence. In 1999, George Abdallah met the legal requirements for conditional release under French law, yet his release requests were repeatedly denied by the authorities, despite the French judiciary confirming his eligibility. In 2013, the judiciary conditionally approved his release on the basis of deportation to Lebanon, but the French Ministry of Interior refused to issue the necessary deportation order, forcing his continued imprisonment in direct violation of the court's decision.

This systematic behavior reflects the French state's subjugation to external political pressure, especially from the United States, and reveals a complete lack of respect for the separation of powers, reinforcing political interference in the judiciary. What took place can only be described as arbitrary detention and a deliberate, prolonged deprivation of liberty that constitutes a grave violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the rule of law.

The case of George Abdallah became a true test of France’s credibility in upholding its international obligations and a stark illustration of the fragility of official rhetoric when the law is used as a cover to restrict political freedoms and the struggle for peoples’ causes.

In this context, Addameer expresses its deep concern over international complicity in similar patterns of political repression, which thousands of Palestinian prisoners endure in Israeli occupation prisons, amid a troubling silence from Western “democracies.”