Canadian PM says will stand up for rights of nationals; Hassan Diab faces life in prison for 1980 bombing that killed 4, hurt 46; he wants Ottawa to reject any extradition request
By AFP
22 April 2023,
In this file photo taken on October 3, 1980, an inspector walks amid car wreckage after a bomb exploded at the synagogue rue Copernic in Paris. (Georges Gobet/AFP)
OTTAWA, Canada — Canada is considering its next steps after a Paris court on Friday convicted a Lebanese-Canadian sociology professor in absentia for the 1980 bombing of a synagogue in the French capital, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.
Hassan Diab, now 69 and a resident of Canada, faces life in prison in France. But he and his supporters want Ottawa to reject any new requests for his extradition.
“We will look carefully at next steps, at what the French government chooses to do, at what French tribunals choose to do,” Trudeau told a news conference.
But, he added, “we will always be there to stand up for Canadians and their rights.”
Diab, speaking to reporters in Ottawa, reacted to the verdict by calling it “Kafkaesque” and “not fair.” “We’d hoped reason would prevail,” he added.
In this file photo taken on October 3, 1980, an inspector walks amid car wreckage after a bomb exploded at the synagogue rue Copernic in Paris. (Georges Gobet/AFP)
OTTAWA, Canada — Canada is considering its next steps after a Paris court on Friday convicted a Lebanese-Canadian sociology professor in absentia for the 1980 bombing of a synagogue in the French capital, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.
Hassan Diab, now 69 and a resident of Canada, faces life in prison in France. But he and his supporters want Ottawa to reject any new requests for his extradition.
“We will look carefully at next steps, at what the French government chooses to do, at what French tribunals choose to do,” Trudeau told a news conference.
But, he added, “we will always be there to stand up for Canadians and their rights.”
Diab, speaking to reporters in Ottawa, reacted to the verdict by calling it “Kafkaesque” and “not fair.” “We’d hoped reason would prevail,” he added.
Diab also urged Trudeau to honor his past statement about the case, which appeared to pour cold water on ever sending Diab back to France, after the first extradition took six years.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks as he meets with US President Joe Biden at the InterContinental Presidente Mexico City hotel in Mexico City, January 10, 2023.
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
“The evidence shows he’s innocent and yet they’ve convicted him,” Diab’s Canadian lawyer Donald Bayne said. “It’s a political result. It’s a wrongful conviction.”
In the early evening of October 3, 1980, explosives placed on a motorcycle detonated close to a synagogue on the Rue Copernic in Paris’s chic 16th district, killing a student passing by on a motorbike, a driver, an Israeli journalist and a caretaker.
Forty-six others were injured in the blast.
In 2014, Canada extradited Diab at the request of the French authorities on the basis of new evidence.
However, investigating judges were unable to prove him guilty conclusively and Diab was released, leaving France for Canada as a free man in 2018.
“The evidence shows he’s innocent and yet they’ve convicted him,” Diab’s Canadian lawyer Donald Bayne said. “It’s a political result. It’s a wrongful conviction.”
In the early evening of October 3, 1980, explosives placed on a motorcycle detonated close to a synagogue on the Rue Copernic in Paris’s chic 16th district, killing a student passing by on a motorbike, a driver, an Israeli journalist and a caretaker.
Forty-six others were injured in the blast.
In 2014, Canada extradited Diab at the request of the French authorities on the basis of new evidence.
However, investigating judges were unable to prove him guilty conclusively and Diab was released, leaving France for Canada as a free man in 2018.
Trudeau at the time welcomed France’s release of Diab, telling reporters in June of that year: “I think for Hassan Diab we have to recognize first of all that what happened to him never should have happened.”
He also ordered a review of Canada’s extradition law to “make sure that it never happens again.”
Three years later, a French court overturned the earlier decision and ordered that Diab should stand trial on charges of murder, attempted murder and destruction of property in connection with a terrorist enterprise.
Diab has denied any involvement in the attack, claiming he was taking exams in Lebanon at the time.
Lebanese-Canadian receives life in prison in absentia for 1980 Paris synagogue bombing
Sociology professor Hassan Diab faces possible second extradition following the French court ruling, while Canada's Trudeau vows to 'stand up for Canadians and their rights'
Lebanese-Canadian sociology professor Hassan Diab, seen here holding a press conference in 2018 following his return to Canada, has received a life sentenced in the trial of the bombing of the Rue Copernic synagogue (Lars Hagberg / AFP)
By MEE staff
Published date: 22 April 2023
A Lebanese-Canadian sociology professor has been convicted by a Paris court in absentia for the 1980 bombing of a synagogue in the French capital, and could be extradited for the second time in less than 10 years.
Hassan Diab, now 69 and a resident of Canada, faces life in prison in France following Friday's court ruling. But he and his supporters want Ottawa to reject any new requests for his extradition.
"We will look carefully at next steps, at what the French government chooses to do, at what French tribunals choose to do," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a news conference following the court ruling.
But, he added, "we will always be there to stand up for Canadians and their rights".
A Paris court on Friday followed the prosecutors' request for the maximum possible punishment against the Lebanese-Canadian, after the prosecutors said in their closing arguments that there was "no possible doubt" that Diab, the only suspect, was behind the attack.
Speaking to reporters in Ottawa, Diab called the verdict "Kafkaesque" and "not fair".
"We'd hoped reason would prevail," he said, adding that he expects Canada not to send him back to France to serve the sentence.
Attack on French soil
In the early evening of 3 October 1980, explosives placed on a motorcycle detonated close to a synagogue on the Rue Copernic in Paris's chic 16th district, killing a student passing by on a motorbike, a driver, an Israeli journalist and a caretaker.
Forty-six others were injured in the blast.
Supporters urge Canada to bring jailed academic Hassan Diab home
Possible second extradition
In 2014, Canada extradited Diab at the request of the French authorities.
However, investigating judges were unable to prove his guilt conclusively during the investigation and Diab was released, leaving France for Canada as a free man in 2018.
Three years later, a French court overturned the decision and ordered that Diab should stand trial on charges of murder, attempted murder and destruction of property in connection with a terrorist enterprise.
French authorities stopped short of issuing a new international arrest warrant for Diab, effectively leaving it up to him to attend his trial or not.
Diab has claimed he was sitting exams in Lebanon at the time of the attack, backed up by statements from his ex-partner and former students.
His conviction means he will now again become the subject of an arrest warrant, which risks stoking diplomatic tensions between France and Canada after his first extradition took six years.
Diab has won some backing from NGOs, including Amnesty International, who said his assertion that he was in Lebanon at the time of the attack was credible.
The former head of Amnesty International Canada, Alex Neve, called the court's ruling "disgraceful".
"15 yrs of surreal injustice for Hassan Diab culminate in disgraceful in absentia verdict. Justice very much needed for this bombing 42 yrs ago; not by scapegoating an innocent man," Neve tweeted, calling on Canada to refuse if France seeks extradition for the second time.
Meanwhile David Pere, a lawyer for some of the people present in the synagogue at the time of the bombing, said his clients were "not motivated by vengeance nor looking for a guilty person's head to stick on a pike... they want justice to be done".
Sociology professor Hassan Diab faces possible second extradition following the French court ruling, while Canada's Trudeau vows to 'stand up for Canadians and their rights'
Lebanese-Canadian sociology professor Hassan Diab, seen here holding a press conference in 2018 following his return to Canada, has received a life sentenced in the trial of the bombing of the Rue Copernic synagogue (Lars Hagberg / AFP)
By MEE staff
Published date: 22 April 2023
A Lebanese-Canadian sociology professor has been convicted by a Paris court in absentia for the 1980 bombing of a synagogue in the French capital, and could be extradited for the second time in less than 10 years.
Hassan Diab, now 69 and a resident of Canada, faces life in prison in France following Friday's court ruling. But he and his supporters want Ottawa to reject any new requests for his extradition.
'We will always be there to stand up for Canadians and their rights'- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
"We will look carefully at next steps, at what the French government chooses to do, at what French tribunals choose to do," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a news conference following the court ruling.
But, he added, "we will always be there to stand up for Canadians and their rights".
A Paris court on Friday followed the prosecutors' request for the maximum possible punishment against the Lebanese-Canadian, after the prosecutors said in their closing arguments that there was "no possible doubt" that Diab, the only suspect, was behind the attack.
Speaking to reporters in Ottawa, Diab called the verdict "Kafkaesque" and "not fair".
"We'd hoped reason would prevail," he said, adding that he expects Canada not to send him back to France to serve the sentence.
Attack on French soil
In the early evening of 3 October 1980, explosives placed on a motorcycle detonated close to a synagogue on the Rue Copernic in Paris's chic 16th district, killing a student passing by on a motorbike, a driver, an Israeli journalist and a caretaker.
Forty-six others were injured in the blast.
Supporters urge Canada to bring jailed academic Hassan Diab home
Read More »
The bombing was the first deadly attack against a Jewish target on French soil since World War II.
No organisation claimed responsibility, but police suspected a splinter group of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
French intelligence agents in 1999 accused Diab of having made the 10kg bomb.
They pointed to Diab's likeness with police sketches drawn at the time and handwriting analyses that they said confirmed him as the person who bought the motorbike used in the attack.
They also produced a key item of evidence against him - a passport in his name, seized in Rome in 1981, with entry and exit stamps from Spain, where the attack plan was believed to have originated.
The bombing was the first deadly attack against a Jewish target on French soil since World War II.
No organisation claimed responsibility, but police suspected a splinter group of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
French intelligence agents in 1999 accused Diab of having made the 10kg bomb.
They pointed to Diab's likeness with police sketches drawn at the time and handwriting analyses that they said confirmed him as the person who bought the motorbike used in the attack.
They also produced a key item of evidence against him - a passport in his name, seized in Rome in 1981, with entry and exit stamps from Spain, where the attack plan was believed to have originated.
Possible second extradition
In 2014, Canada extradited Diab at the request of the French authorities.
However, investigating judges were unable to prove his guilt conclusively during the investigation and Diab was released, leaving France for Canada as a free man in 2018.
Three years later, a French court overturned the decision and ordered that Diab should stand trial on charges of murder, attempted murder and destruction of property in connection with a terrorist enterprise.
French authorities stopped short of issuing a new international arrest warrant for Diab, effectively leaving it up to him to attend his trial or not.
'Justice very much needed for this bombing... not by scapegoating an innocent man'- Alex Neve, former head of Amnesty International Canada
Diab has claimed he was sitting exams in Lebanon at the time of the attack, backed up by statements from his ex-partner and former students.
His conviction means he will now again become the subject of an arrest warrant, which risks stoking diplomatic tensions between France and Canada after his first extradition took six years.
Diab has won some backing from NGOs, including Amnesty International, who said his assertion that he was in Lebanon at the time of the attack was credible.
The former head of Amnesty International Canada, Alex Neve, called the court's ruling "disgraceful".
"15 yrs of surreal injustice for Hassan Diab culminate in disgraceful in absentia verdict. Justice very much needed for this bombing 42 yrs ago; not by scapegoating an innocent man," Neve tweeted, calling on Canada to refuse if France seeks extradition for the second time.
Meanwhile David Pere, a lawyer for some of the people present in the synagogue at the time of the bombing, said his clients were "not motivated by vengeance nor looking for a guilty person's head to stick on a pike... they want justice to be done".
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