Lebanese-Canadian to be Extradited over 1980 French Bombing

Canada on Thursday ordered the extradition of a university professor of Lebanese descent wanted in France in connection with a deadly 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue that left four dead and dozens wounded.

Hassan Diab, a sociologist at the University of Ottawa who has denied any involvement, will have one month to appeal the justice ministry's extradition order, said ministry spokesman Christian Girouard.

A Canadian court had approved the extradition in June 2011, but admitted the French case against Diab was weak.

Diab's defense lawyer Donald Bayne had said the evidence presented against the suspect by French authorities relied on secret, un-sourced intelligence.

French analysts compared his handwriting with that found on a Paris hotel registration card believed to have been signed by the bomber, but three handwriting experts testified the analysis was flawed and did not match Diab's mark.

Diab, a Canadian of Lebanese descent, was arrested in an Ottawa suburb in November 2008 following a request from French prosecutors.

France alleges Diab was a member of a Palestinian extremist group believed to have planted a bomb in a motorcycle saddlebag outside the Copernic Street synagogue in the posh 16th arrondissement of Paris on October 3, 1980.