To Whom It May Concern: Georges Abdallah Is Still In Prison
By Ibrahim Al Amine - January 18th, 2012, Al Akhbar Newspaper
By Ibrahim Al Amine - January 18th, 2012, Al Akhbar Newspaper
Simply put, Georges
Abdallah is a hostage of the terrorist French authorities.
Of course, the esteemed
justice system of the Fifth Republic – the birthplace of human rights – would
never be described in such terms. But how should we describe it? Successive
governments there have actively violated Georges Abdallah’s right to freedom.
Their premise is that he refuses to stop his struggle and that he might once
again return to his militant ways.
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| Liberate Georges Abdallah |
What French
authorities really seem to be saying is that they are imprisoning Georges
Abdallah simply because they can. They are showing that they have the power to
hold a believer in a struggle who raised his voice and fought for the
oppressed.
What they are
saying is that they do not care about legal procedures, humanitarian appeals,
or diplomatic letters and that they have decided unilaterally to hold Abdallah
as long as they like.
The relative
silence of the educated elite, the press, human rights organizations, and the
public in France means that they too are complicit in this ongoing crime.
The actions of the
French authorities tell us what the lawyers and activists have been saying all
along about Georges' case (much like the case of Ilich Ramirez Sanchez a.k.a.
Carlos). They tell us that we who support Georges Abdallah and our compatriots
imprisoned abroad in Europe and the United States must view what is taking
place as nothing short of a terrorist act regardless of whether it is being
carried out by an individual, a group, or a state.
In this case,
France resembles Israel. They tell us, go ahead and do whatever you can to try
to free your prisoners from our jails.
Since it appears
that legal avenues are blocked, there is no longer any way to free Georges
except to resort to the same methods used against Israel, methods where
Georges’ comrades don’t beg the Lebanese state for permission to fulfill its
obligations towards its own citizen.
After all, didn’t
we once say that we never leave our captured in prison?
This article is an
edited translation from the Arabic Edition
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