At the request of French authorities, a part-time instructor at the University of Ottawa has been arrested as a suspect in the 1980 bombing of a synagogue in Paris, an attack that killed four people. The Ottawa Citizen reported that the instructor, Hassan Diab, who teaches sociology and anthropology, was arrested at his home this morning and is scheduled to appear in court on Friday.
Mr. Diab’s lawyer, René Duval, told Agence France-Presse that his client was innocent and was the victim of mistaken identity.
The 1980 bombing, which occurred outside a synagogue in central Paris minutes before worshipers were to emerge from a Sabbath service, killed three Frenchmen and a young Israeli woman. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-Special Operations was blamed.
French authorities have publicly mentioned interest in Mr. Diab as a suspect only in recent years. Last fall, after news reports about the investigation appeared in France, Mr. Diab said in a written statement to the Citizen that he had no involvement in the bombing and had never had any association with any militant organization.
