5 elements to understand the attack on Rue Copernic:
The attack on Rue Copernic, which took place at 6:38 p.m. on Friday October 3, 1980, was the first attack on Jews in France since the end of World War II. A look back at this murderous attack 43 years after the events, at a time when the Assizes had just sentenced Hassan Diab to life imprisonment…
The attack on Rue Copernic – This is a bomb attack that took place on October 3rd, 1980 in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. It was aimed at the synagogue of the Liberal Israelite Union of France. It takes place on a Friday, the Shabbat night and the Jewish holiday Simchat Torah. The attack killed four people and injured forty-six. Investigators suspect the attack was perpetrated by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – Special Operations (PFLP-OS), a 1970s Palestinian group opposed to Yasser Arafat. A sketch of the bomber was created. In 2007, an international MLA request was issued in the United States for a suspect named Hassan Diab, who had lived in the United States and Canada. He is considered the leader of the commando. He is suspected of planting the bomb, hidden in the saddlebags of a motorcycle parked in front of the synagogue. He is the only one held responsible for this bombing.
Lengthy investigations and procedures – Hassan Diab is a Canadian of Lebanese origin, Professor of Sociology in Ottawa. He was 54 years old when he was arrested on the basis of an international arrest warrant issued by French judge Marc Trévidic in November 2008. Hassan Diab was arrested on November 13, 2008 by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Gatineau, Quebec. He was released in 2009 under the supervision of an electronic bracelet. He was extradited to France on November 15, 2014 and taken into custody. He is charged with “murder,” “attempted murder,” and “destruction by the use of explosives or incendiary materials, committed in an organized gang.” A series of remands and releases followed (release notices on May 17, 2016, October 27, 2016 or April 24, 2017 for the sixth time). A dismissal was announced on January 12, 2018, although the charges against Hassan Diab were not “sufficiently convincing” according to the investigating judge. Released, he returned to Canada. The decision will then be overturned by the Paris Court of Appeal on January 27, 2021. The case is then referred to the Special Assize Court of Paris.
The trial before the Special Assize Court of Paris – The trial opened on April 3, 2023. Hassan Diab, who has always said he is innocent in this case, was not present. At the end of this trial, the National Counter-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat) sought a life sentence. For the National Counter-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office, there is no doubt that Hassan Diab is in fact the one who planted the October 3, 1980 bomb. The “extremely incriminating item” is a passport, dated close to that of the attack, and entry and exit stamps from Spain, the country from which the commando would have departed. The defense attorneys, for their part, demanded that their client be acquitted. Positions were divided on the civil party side, some were convinced that Hassan Diab was guilty, others just wanted justice.
43 years later … Hassan Diab sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia – Hassan Diab, who was not in the courtroom, was therefore tried by default. The verdict came on April 21, 2023 after a three-week trial and debates and eight hours of deliberation: Hassan Diab, now 69, was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment. The five professional judges did not grant the motion of the defense, who had pleaded for acquittal “To avoid a miscarriage of justice”. The court dismisses the ” alibis the Lebanese-Canadian, mistook the passport for a “ central piece which Hassan Diab’s membership of the PFLP-OS proved that “essential elements authenticate the information” that he is the bomber. He, who has always argued that he was studying at Beirut University at the time of the events and therefore could not be in France, failed to convince the court through the voice of his lawyers.
International Arrest Warrant by Assizes – The Lebanese-Canadian was sentenced to life imprisonment, along with an extradition request to Canada. It should be remembered that in this case, a first extradition procedure initiated by France was lengthy: it had led to an extradition decision in June 2011, signed by the Canadian Minister of Justice on April 4, 2012, then had to respond to the refusal of Hassan Diab’s appeal which was denied by the Supreme Court of Canada on November 12, 2014 for the extradition to take effect. Hassan Diab will then be returned to France in November 2014. It remains to be seen whether this new extradition procedure will last as long (six years for the first), with an equally uncertain outcome…
