French court finds Hassan Diab guilty of involvement in 1980 bombing

A French court has found Ottawa academic Hassan Diab guilty in absentia of charges related to the Paris synagogue bombing.

The Ottawa university lecturer, now 69, has been accused by authorities of involvement in the 1980 Rue Copernicus bombing in Paris, which killed four people and injured more than 40. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The court sentenced Diab to life imprisonment and issued an arrest warrant.

Speaking to reporters in Ottawa after Friday’s verdict, Diab was disappointed and called the situation “Kafkaesque.”

“We hope reason will prevail,” said Diab.

Diab’s lawyer, Donald Bayne, said the sentence was unfair.

“The evidence shows he’s innocent, but he’s been convicted,” Bayne said.

“It’s the result of politics. It’s a mistaken belief.”

Bayne said the next step is to see if France makes an extradition request.

In response to Friday’s ruling, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not say what Canada would do.

“We will review the next steps, in terms of what the French government chooses, what the French courts choose,” Trudeau said at a news conference.

“But we will always be there to stand up for Canada and its rights.”

WATCH | ‘We will review the next steps’: Trudeau reacts to the Diab verdict

Yonathan Arfi, president of the Council of Representatives of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF), expressed his satisfaction with the verdict.

“After 43 years of wandering the courts, justice has finally been done for this deadly antisemitic attack,” Arfi. said in a tweet in France.

“Now everything must be done to enforce the international arrest warrant. CRIF calls on Canada to cooperate with French justice.”

Diab was arrested by the RCMP in November 2008 and placed under strict bail conditions until he was extradited to France in 2014. He spent more than three years in prison in France before the case against him collapsed.

He was released in January 2018 after two French judges ruled the evidence was not strong enough to stand trial. He was never formally charged.

Diab’s release was opposed by more than 20 civil society groups in France – including victims of terrorism groups and pro-Israel organizations.

French prosecutors have appealed for Diab’s speedy release – but the case has slowed as prosecutors seek new evidence against Diab. Court proceedings have also been delayed due to the pandemic.

In 2021, France’s top court rejected Hassan Diab’s appeal and ordered him to stand trial, indicating that they would try him in absentia if he failed to return to France.

Handwritten proof

The main physical evidence Canada relied on to extradite Diab to France was handwriting analysis that linked Diab’s handwriting to that of the suspected bomber. Canadian government lawyers acting on behalf of France were called the “smoking gun” in the extradition hearing.

But in 2009, Diab’s legal team produced conflicting reports from four international handwriting experts. The experts questioned the methods and conclusions of the French experts. He also proved that some of the handwriting samples used by the French analysts were not Diab’s but his ex-husband’s.

A French investigating judge dismissed the handwriting evidence as unreliable when ordering Diab’s release in January 2018.

While considering an appeal against Diab’s acquittal, another French judge ordered an independent review of the controversial handwriting evidence.

Fingerprint evidence leads to release

Diab’s lawyer said the latest review offered “criticism and reprimand” of the original handwriting analysis “of the mirror.”[s] criticism by the defense during the extradition hearing 10 years ago.”

The French investigating judge who released Diab also found he had an alibi for the day of the Paris bombings. Using university records and interviews with Diab’s classmates, the investigating judge determined he was “probably in Lebanon” when he wrote the exam at the time of the bombing outside the synagogue.

“It is possible that Hassan Diab was in Lebanon during September and October 1980 … and therefore it is unlikely that he was the person … who then planted the bomb on Rue Copernic on October 3, 1980,” he wrote.

In 2018, CBC News confirmed that France knew about — and failed to disclose — fingerprint evidence that ultimately played a critical role in Diab’s release.

Attack survivors and victims’ families attended the first day of the trial in Paris earlier this month. In the proceedings, prosecutor Benjamin Chambre cited Diab’s absence as evidence of a “gross exception in his conduct.”

“This is a grave disgrace for justice and for the victims 43 years after the incident,” Chambre added.

In a statement issued by the Hassan Diab Support Committee, Donald Bayne, Diab’s Canadian lawyer, said the case against his client was “full of seemingly disconnected information.”

The case against Diab, Bayne said, contained “arguments, hypotheses, conjectures and references to information received, without clarifying the source of the information or the circumstances under which it was received.”

Amnesty International last month described the case against Diab as “baseless and flawed” and said pursuing Diab directly undermined justice for the victims of the synagogue attack.

“Amnesty International is calling on the French Public Prosecutor for Anti-Terrorism to drop the baseless accusations against Dr. Hassan Diab,” the group said in a media statement.

Since his release, Diab has been living with his wife and two children in Ottawa. He has resumed work as a part-time lecturer.