Hassan Diab, the Carleton instructor accused in connection with the bombing of a Parisian synagogue in 1980, is still waiting to hear if he will be allowed out on bail.
Diab, 55, is being held at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre pending his extradition to France. He is charged with murder, attempted murder and destruction of property.
Don Bayne, Diab’s lawyer, could not be reached for comment. But Bayne was quoted in the Ottawa Citizen saying, “The Ottawa community may well wonder why a peaceful, respected academic . . . would be detained when he’s presumed innocent and when release is the norm.”
Bayne told the Ontario Superior Court the evidence against his client was weak. Diab’s fingerprints and DNA do not match those found at the scene, nor did he fit any of the eyewitnesses’ descriptions of the suspects, according to evidence presented in court.
Diab was arrested in November 2008 after being investigated by French and Canadian authorities. The bombing claimed four lives but no one claimed responsibility for the attack. It was later blamed on the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-Special Operations. The case went cold until 2007 when German authorities discovered an old members list for the organization.
“This is an extremely weak criminal case for the Canadian courts,” he said. “It would never support a criminal conviction in Canada because it is so bereft of evidence.”
Diab taught a course with the department of sociology and anthropology at Carleton and another course at the University of Ottawa until his arrest.
His estranged wife, Rania Tfaily, also a sociology professor at Carleton, told the court she would allow Diab to move back in.
Diab and Tfaily were married in a religious but non-binding ceremony in 2006, but Diab moved out after having an affair.
Tfaily insisted she does not still love him, but that she couldn’t bear to have him stay in jail.
“I believe he’s innocent,” said Tfaily in court Monday. “Would I ever forgive myself if I let an innocent person stay in jail, just because I’m jealous that he had sex with another woman? No.”