Hassan Diab goes on trial in absentia in France for alleged role in 1980 Paris synagogue bombing

Ottawa academic Hassan Diab went on trial in absentia in France today in connection with a bombing outside a Paris synagogue 40 years ago — more than five years after he was set free due to a lack of evidence.

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

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 against him wasn't strong enough to take to trial. He was never formally charged.

Diab's release is being opposed by more than 20 civil society groups in France — including victims of terrorism groups and pro-Israel organizations.

French prosecutors appealed Diab's release promptly — but the case moved slowly as prosecutors searched for new evidence against Diab. The court proceedings were also delayed by 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.

The key physical evidence Canada relied on in extraditing Diab to France was handwriting analysis linking Diab's handwriting to that of the suspected bomber. Canadian government lawyers acting on France's behalf called it a "smoking gun" in the extradition hearing.

But in 2009, Diab's legal team produced contrary reports from four international handwriting experts. These experts questioned the methods and conclusions of the French experts. They also proved that some of the handwriting samples used by the French analysts belonged not to Diab but to his ex-wife.

French investigative judges dismissed the handwriting evidence as unreliable when they ordered Diab's release in January 2018.

While considering the appeal of Diab's release, another French judge ordered an independent review of the contentious handwriting evidence.

Fingerprint evidence led to release

Diab's lawyers said this latest review delivered "a scathing critique and rebuke" of the original handwriting analysis "that mirror[s] the critique by the defence during the extradition hearing 10 years ago."

The French investigative judges who released Diab also found he had an alibi for the day of the Paris bombing. Using university records and interviews with Diab's classmates, the investigative judges determined he was "probably in Lebanon" writing exams when the bombing outside the synagogue took place.

"It is likely that Hassan Diab was in Lebanon during September and October 1980 … and it is therefore unlikely that he is the man … who then laid the bomb on Rue Copernic on October 3rd, 1980," they wrote.

In 2018, CBC News confirmed that France was aware of — and had failed to disclose — fingerprint evidence that ended up playing a critical role in Diab's release.

Survivors of the attack and victims' families attended the first day of proceedings in Paris Monday — where prosecutor Benjamin Chambre called Diab's absence proof of "great cowardice in his behaviour."

"It's a grave abomination for justice and for the victims 43 years after the events," Chambre added. 

In a statement issued by the Hassan Diab Support Committee, Donald Bayne, Diab's Canadian lawyer, said the case against his client is "replete with seemingly disconnected information."

The case against Diab, Bayne said, contains "a great deal of argument, hypothesis, conjecture and references to information received, without describing the source of that information or the circumstances upon 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 victims of the synagogue attack.

"Amnesty International is calling on the French Public Prosecutor for Anti-Terrorism to drop the groundless charges 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.