The French public prosecutor has requested a life sentence for Lebanese-Canadian Hassan Diab, the sole defendant being tried in absentia for the bombing of a synagogue on Copernic Street in Paris 43 years ago, according to the Los Angeles Times. Diab, accused of the 1980 bombing, was tried in absentia nearly 43 years after the attack that killed four people and injured 46 others. French authorities identified Hassan Diab as a suspect in 1999, accusing him of planting a bomb on the evening of October 3, 1980, outside the synagogue where 320 worshippers had gathered to mark the end of a Jewish holiday.
Diab, 69, has denied involvement in the attack, claiming he was at the University of Beirut at the time of the explosion in western Paris. His supporters and lawyers in France and Canada argue that French judicial authorities have wrongfully pursued Diab, considering him a victim of mistaken identity. French investigators attributed the synagogue attack to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - Special Operations.
Canada allowed Diab's extradition to France at the end of 2014, where he spent three years in pre-trial detention. However, anti-terrorism judges later ordered his release from French custody due to a lack of evidence, leading him to return to Ottawa in Canada. In January 2021, a French appellate court ruled that Diab should be tried on terrorism-related charges.
