France drops terror allegations against Diab

Former Ottawa University professor Hassan Diab was released from a Paris maximum security prison Friday after two investigating judges dismissed terrorism allegations against him and effectively closed the case.

The academic is now a free man for the first time in almost a decade.

Diab, a Lebanon-born Canadian citizen, has spent more than three years in pre-trial detention awaiting the decision. He was the sole suspect in the October 1980 terrorist bombing of a Paris synagogue in which four passersby were killed and dozens injured.

Diab, 64, who has denied any involvement in the attack, was indicted on murder, attempted murder and other charges related to the bombing. He was extradited from Canada in November 2014 at the request of France, after a six-year legal battle against the extradition order.

Investigating Judge JeanMarc Herbaut, one of the French judges who dismissed the case against Diab on Fri- day, had previously ordered the academic’s release on bail, saying evidence he had gathered indicated that Diab was telling the truth and was not in Paris at the time of the bombing.

A total of eight judicial decisions ordering Diab’s release on bail were challenged by prosecutors and overturned by appeal judges.

Diab’s Ottawa lawyer Don Bayne told this newspaper that although the possibility of an appeal remains, Friday’s decision means that Diab is a free man and evidence against him has been deemed unreliable by the investigators.

“We have crossed a significant bridge today,” said Bayne. “We are extremely thankful for the wisdom and courage of the French judges.”

French lawyers acting for Diab said in a statement that while respecting the victims’ quest for justice, the academic’s release demonstrates the “impossibility to attribute to Hassan Diab any responsibility in the attack.”

The lawyers urged prosecutors to respect the investigating judges’ decision.

Diab was arrested in November 2008 by an RCMP tactical squad and jailed for four and a half months before being released on what amounted to house arrest.

His formal extradition hearing started on Nov 28, 2010 and ended Mar. 9, 2011. He was committed for extradition later that year and flown to Paris on Nov. 14, 2014, after numerous legal challenges and hours after the Supreme Court — his final hope against extradition refused to hear the case.