“A French court gave him LIFE for the murder of 4 souls and the mutilation of 46 people. Yet Carlton University rewards him with a teaching position? Every course taught by this admitted terrorist dishonors the lives he destroyed. This is not just a failure of justice: this is spitting on the graves of Jewish victims. Shame on those who allow this,” Shamir added.

UNACCORDABLE: Hassan Diab, the terrorist who murdered my friend’s mother, Aliza Shagrir, before his eyes during the bombing of the Paris synagogue in 1980, still gives lectures in Canada @Carleton_U. A French court gave him LIFE for the murder of 4 souls and the mutilation of 46 people. However, Carlton University… https://t.co/9z1nG3NAIb

– CG Idit Shamir (@ShamirIdit) November 2, 2024

Diab was the only suspect in the 1980 attack outside the Paris synagogue. the first attack against Jews in France since the end of World War II. A motorcycle bomb was set to detonate outside as worshipers were expected to leave the synagogue after celebrating the religious holiday of Simchat Torah.

It took nearly 43 years before the French justice system convicted Diab in absentia for planting the explosive in April 2023. Canada had already extradited Diab to France in 2014, but he returned to Canada in 2018 after A French judge dismissed the case, citing insufficient evidence.

In August 2024, the Canadian government refused to say whether the French government had filed a second extradition request for Diab following a petition to the House of Commons seeking not to accept another French extradition appeal.

“The Government of Canada cannot confirm or deny the existence of extradition requests, as this would disclose confidential communications between states,” said Arif Virani, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada. response to petition.

“The Government of Canada emphasizes that all extradition requests received are carefully considered, taking into account all relevant circumstances, the Extradition Act, Canada’s international obligations and the Canadian Charter of Rights and freedoms,” he added.

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Who is Hassan Diab?

Diab, a Lebanese citizen of Palestinian origin, became a Canadian citizen in 1993, 13 years after the Paris synagogue bombing and 15 years before the French government first requested his extradition.

Diab, who holds a doctorate in sociology from Syracuse University in New York, taught at various Canadian universities until October 2007 and has not had any criminal charges brought against him.

In January 2008, France first made its first formal request to Canada for help in gathering evidence and after nearly 11 months of investigation, Ottawa received an extradition request from Paris for Diab on November 7.

Canadian authorities arrested Diab on November 13, 2008 and he remained in custody until March 31, 2009, before he was released on bail.

Diab was not on the radar of French authorities until 1999, when they received intelligence naming the Canadian citizen as a suspect in the bombing.

But it was not until 15 years later that Diab was extradited to France where he spent a few years in prison before being released in 2018, upon his return to Canada. Since then, he has lived in Canada.

Diab denied any involvement in the attack and said he was the victim of mistaken identity. He said he was a student at the University of Beirut at the time of the Paris attack.

French courts rejected this argument in 2023 when he was sentenced to life in prison.

The incident and the trial against Diab

On October 3, 1980, a Suzuki motorcycle with a bag filled with bomb was parked in front of the synagogue in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.

The bomb exploded as worshipers were leaving the synagogue, killing four people and injuring more than 40 others. The death toll could have been much higher if not for the delay in the church service.

Early in the investigation, French authorities considered a neo-Nazi link to the attack, but by the end of the year their attention shifted to a West Asian link, reports the BBC.

Investigators traced the motorcycle to a dealer who sold it on September 23, 1980, to a man using the alias Alexander Panadriyu. The pseudonym on the sales documents led investigators to the Celtic Hotel, near Copernicus Street, where Panadriyu had stayed on September 22, 1980.

Panadriyu signed a registration card at the hotel, personally filling in the details with his name and specifying that he was a technician from Larnaca, Cyprus. The registration card was handed over to the police, who examined it and found no usable fingerprint evidence.

A independent review of extradition de Diab ordered by the Canadian government revealed that a usable fingerprint examined in 2007 did not match his own.

Police discovered that Panadriyu had been arrested a few days before the attack for stealing pliers, but was released because he was not charged. He was not photographed by the French authorities.

A sex worker and employees of the dealership as well as the hotel provided descriptions of the man under the pseudonym Alexander Panadriyu, but their versions differ.

Authorities also found a car tied to the lot with a palm print. Years later, Diab’s palm print was compared to that of the car, but it did not match.

In 1982, according to the Canadian magazine, French authorities were informed that the buyer of the motorcycle was a certain Hassan, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). However, no other avenues were explored before 1999.

That year, French intelligence passed on information that the suicide bomber was Hassan Diab, and he was linked to a second attack in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1981.

French authorities received information in October 1981 that Italian authorities at Rome airport had arrested Ahmed Ben Mohammed, a suspected PFLP member, who was carrying a passport issued to Hassan Diab. The passport was issued in Beirut.

The passport bore several stamps, including entry and exit stamps for Spain dated September 18, 1980 and October 7, 1980 respectively. The investigation’s thesis was that Diab had entered Spain with his own passport and s He went to France with false documents, before returning to the Iberian country and leaving after the attack.

Diab had applied for a new Lebanese passport in 1983, claiming his previous one had been lost in April 1981.

The passport was a piece of evidence considered key to the prosecution’s case. Diab’s lawyer produced witnesses showing that he was in Beirut to take university exams in October 1980.

The prosecution also relied on handwriting samples from the hotel registration card and composite sketches of Panadriyu that resembled Diab. He declared that these elements as well as the copy of the passport were sufficient to convict the Lebanese-Canadian citizen.

Extradition from Canada in 2014 and release from France

After six years of legal battles between 2008 and 2014, Diab was finally handed over to French authorities in November 2014. Between 2014 and 2018, Diab remained in a French prison near Paris.

Little information is available on Diab’s arrest and detention in France, given the confidentiality of the proceedings. In May 2016, a French court granted the Canadian citizen bail, but the decision was appealed and 10 days after his release he was back in prison.

In October 2016, a French judge ordered Diab’s release, citing “consistent evidence” that he was in Lebanon at the time of the attack. The release order was immediately appealed and Diab remained in prison.

On January 12, 2018, the charges against Diab were dropped and his release was ordered. He returned to Canada on January 15, 2018. Prosecutors appealed the acquittal, and in 2021 a French court overturned the acquittal – the first time in the history of French terrorism cases.

In April 2023, the trial finally began, when French judges ruled that Diab was the perpetrator of the synagogue bombings and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

The Lebanese-Canadian professor refused to return to the European country for the hearings and remains in Canada.

(Edited by Sugita Katyal)

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