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Canadian suspect in 1980 synagogue bombing to appear in Paris court

November 15, 2014

The main suspect in a bombing outside a synagogue in Paris three decades ago been detained in France. The blast killed four people and wounded over 40 others.

https://p.dw.com/p/1Do1x
Anschlag auf Pariser Synagoge 1980
A picture taken on October 3, 1980 shows firemen standing by the wrekage of a car and motocycle after a bomb exploded outside a synagogueImage: AFP/Getty Images

The most wanted suspect in a 1980 bombing of a synagogue in Paris that killed four people is to appear in court over the weekend.

Hassan Diab, a 60-year-old Canadian of Lebanese descent, was extradited from Canada and arrived in Paris on Saturday. The professor of sociology has been living under judicial supervision since his arrest in Canada in 2008, according to his lawyer.

He had been fighting extradition since that arrest.

"My client maintains his innocence," Diab's lawyer, Stephane Bonifassi, told AFP news agency on Saturday. "We will continue the fight started in Canada so that his innocence is established."

On October 3, 1980, ten kilograms of explosives attached to a motorcycle parked outside a synagogue in Rue Copernic exploded as worshipers were expected to leave the synagogue.

French authorities accuse Diab of being a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - an extremist group that conducted armed hijackings of airliners in the 1960s and is believed to have carried out a number of deadly attacks in Europe.

sb/glb (Reuters, AFP)