(MENAFN) Lebanese campaigner Georges Abdallah reached Beirut on Friday after being confined in French detention facilities for over four decades, following his sentencing in the 1980s for the murder of an Israeli and an American envoy, along with accusations tied to unauthorized arms possession.

The 74-year-old advocate for the Palestinian cause touched down at Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut via an Air France plane, as reported by a Lebanese official news agency.

Numerous backers assembled near the airport entrance and the VIP terminal to welcome Abdallah, who was guided through the arrivals hall amid jubilant chanting and clapping.

In remarks to journalists upon his return, Abdallah declared: “We will forever honor the martyrs of the resistance. They are the foundation of any idea of liberation.”

He added: “As long as there is resistance, there is return. And that return is powerful, backed by the martyrs who created a stream of resisting blood.”

Abdallah was detained in 1984 and handed a life term by a French tribunal in 1987 due to his role in the killings of U.S. military envoy Charles Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris in 1982.

He was additionally found guilty of possessing counterfeit documentation and unlicensed firearms.

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