A French court on Friday ordered the release of pro-Palestinian Lebanese activist Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, jailed for 40 years for the killing of two foreign diplomats, prosecutors said.
The court said Abdallah, first detained in 1984 and convicted in 1987 over the 1982 murders, would be released on December 6 provided he leaves France, French anti-terror prosecutors said in a statement to AFP, adding that they would appeal.
"In (a) decision dated today, the court granted Georges Ibrahim Abdallah conditional release from December 6, subject to the condition that he leaves French territory and not appear there again," the prosecutors said.
Washington has consistently opposed his release but Lebanese authorities have repeatedly said he should be freed from jail.
Abdallah, now 73, has always insisted he is a "fighter" who battled for the rights of Palestinians and not a "criminal". This was his 11th bid for release.
He had been eligible to apply for parole since 1999 but all his previous applications had been turned down, except in 2013 when he was granted release on the condition he was expelled from France.
However the then interior minister Manuel Valls refused to go through with the order and Abdallah remained in jail.
The court's decision on Friday is not conditional on the government issuing such an order, Abdallah's lawyer, Jean-Louis Chalanset, told AFP, hailing "a legal and a political victory".
One of France's longest serving inmates, Abdallah has never expressed regret for his actions.
At his trial over the killing of the diplomats, Abdallah was sentenced to life in prison, a much more severe punishment than the 10 years demanded by prosecutors.
His lawyer Jacques Verges, who defended clients including Venezuelan militant Carlos the Jackal, described the verdict as a "declaration of war".
There remains a broad swell of support for his cause among the far left and communists in France. Last month, 2022 Nobel literature prize winner Annie Ernaux, said in a piece in communist daily L'Humanite that his detention "shamed France".
