OTTAWA — A part-time university sociology instructor has been arrested and could face extradition to France in connection with the fatal bombing of a Paris synagogue in 1980.
RCMP officers arrested Hassan Diab at his home Thursday on a provisional extradition warrant issued at the request of French authorities, his lawyer said.
Defence lawyer Rene Duval told The Canadian Press his client was shocked by the arrest.
“This is someone who has no criminal record whatsoever,” said Duval, who claims Diab did not enter France in 1980.
“It’s a mistaken identification.”
The federal Justice Department confirmed that Diab had been taken into custody.
Department spokesman Christian Girouard said the next step would likely be a bail hearing, normally held within 24 hours of detention in such cases.
Under Canadian law, French officials will have 45 days to provide further legal details to back up their extradition request, he said.
Diab’s name first surfaced in French news reports last year in connection with the 1980 attack that killed four people and injured 20 others.
Diab, who teaches at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, has told the Paris daily Le Figaro he had nothing to do with the bombing and is a victim of mistaken identity.
There was no comment by the University of Ottawa following the arrest, and officials at the French Embassy in Ottawa also declined to speak about the case.
In Paris, Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie issued a statement praising the “excellent co-operation” between French police and intelligence services and Canadian authorities, but provided no further details.
Another official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with French judicial policy, said the arrest was sought by anti-terrorist judges investigating the 1980 attack.
Diab, 55, is said to hold Lebanese and Canadian passports and to have lived in the U.S. for several years before moving to Canada.
The RCMP would not comment in detail, or even refer to Diab by name, but confirmed that officers made the arrest at a private residence in Gatineau, Que., just across the Ottawa River from the national capital.
Cpl. Jean Hainey said the arrest was carried out without incident and the man was being held in Ottawa pending court proceedings.
French officials say anti-terrorist judges Marc Trevidic and Yves Jannier travelled to Canada earlier this week in hopes of advancing their inquiry into the bombing. There was no comment on that by the Justice Department or the RCMP in Ottawa.
The investigation traces its roots to Oct. 3, 1980, when a bomb hidden in the saddlebags of a parked motorcycle exploded outside the synagogue of the conservative U.L.I.F. group as hundreds of worshippers gathered inside for a Sabbath service.
Three French men and one Israeli woman were killed. Some 200,000 people later marched through the streets of Paris to protest the attack.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-Special Operations was blamed at the time. Diab’s name is alleged to have been found on a list of former members of the group obtained by German intelligence officials.
Duval said Diab has worried about his reputation since his name was first connected to the bombing. Diab has been watched closely ever since, the lawyer said.
“He was basically followed all the time and nothing came out of all the complaints we made to the Ottawa police,” Duval said.
“My client was harassed all year — the last 12 months — by unknown people.”
Diab will appear in an Ottawa courthouse Friday afternoon. It’s the first step before his extradition hearing, which is expected in the next few weeks.