OTTAWA -- The author of the 1980 bombing of a synagogue paraded in the streets of Paris with two fake Cypriot passports, and carried a stack of $100 U.S. bills to pay for the material used in his deadly deed, according to French police records released yesterday.
The newly unsealed documents are part of the extradition case against Hassan Diab, an Ottawa sociology professor and Canadian citizen born and raised in Lebanon who was arrested in connection with the bombing last week.
According to information collected by French authorities since the 1980 attack, the bomber bought a Suzuki motorcycle for $1,000 (U.S.) at a store named Moto Shopping Etoile on Sept. 23.
Two days later, the bespectacled terrorist rented a Citroën GS in the French capital.
About 10 kilograms of explosives were stashed in bags at the back of the bike, which was blown up 15 metres away from the Copernic Street synagogue on Oct. 3, killing four people and injuring about 40 others. A few days later, the car was found abandoned in a parking lot, with leftover food inside.
During his stay in Paris, the alleged terrorist was also caught stealing wire cutters and paid $100 (U.S.) for a night at his Celtic Hotel room with a prostitute, who pointed out his smoking habits and the fact he was circumcised.
French authorities feel the carnage would have been much worse had the bomb detonated 25 minutes later, as hundreds of worshippers were exiting, and if security measures had not prevented the terrorist from parking the motorcycle closer.
Twenty-eight years later, Mr. Diab appeared in an Ottawa court, fighting extradition to France where he is accused of murder, attempted murder and willful destruction of property by an organized group, all in relation to attack.
“The evidence is basically non-existent and although there might be [some], it’s not credible,” said his lawyer, René Duval, who says France is pushing for the extradition for internal political reasons.
“I don’t want to accuse anyone of anything, but we have the impression that it looks good politically [for a country] to look like it’s doing its part against terrorism,” he said.
According to the international arrest warrant unsealed in an Ottawa courtroom, French authorities are accusing Mr. Diab of being the man who used two Cypriot passports in the name of Alexander Panadriuy and Joseph Mathias.
Authorities allege that Mr. Diab was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, based on evidence from former members and various foreign intelligence services.
The evidence in the files also includes two police sketches made after the bombing, and handwriting analysis comparing Mr. Diab’s writing with a registration card filled out under the alias of Alexander Panadriuy at the Celtic Hotel.
There is also a lot of information on real and fake passports, which French authorities said were used by the terrorist to enter Spain and then France before the bombing.
According to the evidence, Italian authorities intercepted an individual in 1981 carrying various pieces of ID, including an authentic Lebanese passport belonging to Mr. Diab. The document included stamps showing the passport had been used to enter Spain on Sept. 20, 1980, and to leave the country on Oct. 7, or four days after the bombing.
Mr. Diab’s lawyer, Mr. Duval, has told reporters that his client was not in Paris at the time of the bombing. Mr. Diab himself has argued in an interview published last November in the French newspaper Le Figaro that he has been mistaken for someone else because he has a common name in the Middle East.
Mr. Diab was in the witness box for several hours yesterday as part of a bail hearing that continues today. The questioning was not allowed to address the specific evidence against him. Instead, the Crown focused on Mr. Diab’s extensive travels.
The part-time professor at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa has taught in many countries around the world, including the United States, Lebanon, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
On what was his 55th birthday yesterday, Mr. Diab said he has a son in Scotland and a daughter in Syracuse, N.Y., - from two separate estranged relationships - and he would regularly visit both during school breaks while teaching in the United States.
The court will hear today from his current partner, Rania Tfaily, a full-time Carleton University professor, who will argue in favour of his bail.
