Hassan Diab

Hassan N. Diab (حسن دياب; born November 20, 1953) is a Lebanese-Canadian citizen and sociologist who has been convicted in absentia of having planted the explosive that caused the 1980 Paris synagogue bombing.

He has always countered the accusation by insisting he was in Lebanon, and has witnesses and evidence to prove it, at the time of the event.

Diab was born in Lebanon on November 20, 1953, and studied sociology at the American University of Beirut.

He received a PhD from Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York.

His lawyer said the arrest was "a mistaken identification", and that Diab did not enter France in 1980.

Friends, colleagues and former professors of Diab expressed shock and bafflement at the news of his arrest.

His thesis adviser, Louis Kriesberg, a noted scholar of conflict resolution, said he never knew Diab to be in any way antisemitic and called the news "not credible".

He became a Canadian citizen in 1993, and moved to Ottawa in 2006.

He holds dual citizenship.

In 2008, France requested his extradition for his alleged involvement in the bombing.

Diab was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on November 13, 2008, at the request of French authorities who wanted him extradited to stand trial for his alleged role in a 1980 bombing outside a synagogue on Rue Copernic in Paris.

He faced charges of murder and attempted murder in connection with the bombing, in which four people were killed and dozens injured by the detonation of about 10 kg of explosives hidden in the saddlebags of a parked motorcycle.

Diab denies all charges.

In early July 2009, Diab was hired to teach a summer course in introductory sociology at Carleton University.

On July 28, the day after a bail hearing disclosed his employment and subsequent teaching, B'nai Brith Canada released a statement condemning Carleton for employing a suspected terrorist.

"We find it deplorable that university officials believe that there is nothing wrong with employing Diab. The safety and security of the community as a whole, and of the Carleton University campus in particular, are of great concern to us."

The Toronto-based national office of B'nai Brith issued a statement condemning Carleton's actions, while an Ottawa-based member of the group telephoned the university directly to complain.

The university confirmed to the CBC that Diab was teaching the course.

Later that day, university officials cancelled Diab's contract and named a replacement, stating that Diab had been replaced "in the interest of providing students with a stable, productive academic environment that is conducive to learning."

"The university did the right thing," B'nai Brith's executive vice-president, Frank Dimant, said of Carleton's about-face in not allowing Diab to teach."

Some Carleton University professors supported Diab, stating that his termination violates the university's contract obligations.

The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) issued a press release condemning the actions of Carleton's administration.

Based on information from intelligence agencies of Germany obtained from former members of the group, French authorities allege that Diab was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the group blamed for the bombing.

Evidence unsealed as part of the extradition case, in April 2009, included two police sketches made some time after the bombing.

Samples of Diab's handwriting, while a student at Syracuse University years later, were subjected to handwriting analysis.

The sample of Diab's Syracuse handwriting was compared to the writing on a Paris hotel registration card filled out under the alias Alexandre Panadriyu.

One French expert stated that the handwriting was definitely Diab's, though it appeared efforts had been made to change it.

Another French expert said Diab could have written the registration card.

In October 2009, Diab’s lawyer submitted to the Canadian court several reports produced by experts in Canada, the United States, France and the United Kingdom.

After a lengthy extradition hearing, on June 6, 2011, the Canadian extradition judge described the evidence as "convoluted, very confusing, with conclusions that are suspect" and stated that "the prospects of conviction in the context of a fair trial seem unlikely".

However, the judge said that his interpretation of Canada’s extradition law left him no choice but to commit Diab to extradition.

On April 4, 2012, the Minister of Justice, Rob Nicholson, ordered Diab extradited to France.

Diab's appeal to the Ontario Court of Appeal was rejected and the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear the case.

On November 14, 2014, Hassan was extradited from Canada to France where he was imprisoned for three years and two months without trial while the investigation continued.

On January 12, 2018 the charges against Diab were dismissed, after the investigative judges found the evidence for his presence in Lebanon at the time consistent, and two days later he returned to Canada.

Three years later, in January 2021, the Paris Appeals court reversed the dismissal of charges and ordered that he stand trial.

On May 19, 2021, France's highest court of appeal, the Court of Cassation ordered the trial to go ahead.

Evidence presented against him in France included a sketch of the bomber that resembled him and the discovery of a passport in his name with entry and exit stamps from Spain, where the bomber is believed to have fled.

On April 21, 2023, Diab was convicted of terrorism charges in absentia and sentenced to life in prison.

Diab's supporters allege that he was wrongly charged, that fingerprint evidence from the crime scene which exculpated him had not been admitted, that the 'smoking gun' evidence suggesting he had used a second passport to enter Spain at the time consists of a faded passport facsimile for which the original has not come to light, and that evidence corroborates his alibi that he was in Lebanon at the time of the attack.