A judge in Canada has ruled that a Canadian may be extradited to France where he faces charges in connection with a 1980 synagogue bombing in Paris that killed four people.
Justice Robert Maranger said that while he believes the French authorities' case against 57-year old Hassan Diab is “weak,” the Canadian-Lebanese national must be surrendered under the terms of Canada's extradition law. His extradition still awaits final approval from Canada's justice minister.
Canadian police arrested Diab in 2008 on a French-issued warrant after he was named as a suspect in the 1980 attack blamed on Palestinian militants. The bomb, hidden in a bag on a motorcycle parked outside a synagogue, exploded as worshippers emerged from a service. Three French citizens and an Israeli woman were killed.
Diab — previously a sociology lecturer at two Canadian universities — has denied involvement and calls his arrest a case of mistaken identity.