An Ottawa university professor accused of playing a role in a deadly Paris bombing nearly three decades ago and currently awaiting an extradition hearing is back teaching at Carleton University.
Hassan Diab, 55, is teaching a part-time intro to sociology summer course every Tuesday and Thursday, according to the university.
The information came out in court yesterday, where Diab and his common-law wife Rania Tfaily were trying to obtain standing in a hearing to decide whether evidence that could be used against him can be sent overseas.
On Jan. 4, Diab is expected to go before a judge who will decide if he should be sent to France to face allegations he participated in the 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue that killed four people and wounded dozens of others.
Diab has maintained his innocence since he was arrested in late 2008.
At the time, his lawyer, Rene Duval, suggested his client was a victim of mistaken identity.
Fired lawyer
Diab later fired Duval and expressed shock at both his arrest and an initial failure to be released on bail.
At a second bail hearing on March 31, Diab was released with strict conditions.
Monitored with a GPS ankle bracelet, Diab is under virtual house arrest and cannot leave unless he is accompanied by one of five individuals who posted a combined $250,000 for bail.
The bail conditions allow Diab to attend the university without being accompanied by one of his sureties.
A lawyer for Diab and Tfaily argued yesterday the seizure of computers and USB drives from Tfaily’s Ottawa condo and Carleton University office was unlawful and was a fishing expedition by the RCMP acting on information from French authorities.
The Crown opposed giving Diab standing in the hearing, saying the items seized belonged to Tfaily and at the time of his arrest he wasn’t living with her.
The Crown argued Tfaily could in theory be granted standing, but there is no point because she has never been charged.
— with files from Aedan Helmer
