Dr. Hassan Diab, a Lebanese terrorist with Canadian citizenship, who was convicted in a French court and sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement in a terrorist attack on a synagogue in Paris 44 years ago, accepted a teaching position at a prestigious university in Canada and will lecture on "social justice in action."
The attack took place on Friday, October 3, 1980, when a bomb planted in the side bag of a motorcycle exploded outside the entrance to the Rue Copernic synagogue, a Reform synagogue in the prestigious 16th arrondissement of Paris. Israeli television presenter Aliza Shagrir and three other bystanders were killed in the attack. Another 20 people were injured.
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Dr. Hassan Diab was convicted in absentia of a terror attack on a Paris synagogue that killed 4
(Photo: AFP)
Diab, who was the main suspect in the attack, fled to Canada. An indictment was filed against him, in which it was alleged that he was behind the deadly attack. Diab was arrested in 2008 in Canada at the request of the French authorities and for six years waged a legal battle against his extradition to France. He denied any connection to the attack and claimed that the French authorities, who maintain that he worked in the ranks of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, are confusing him with another person.
In 2014 Diab was extradited to France, but after two years, following a legal battle, an investigating judge ordered his release to house arrest and he fled to Canada the same day. An appeal was then filed and a trial was held in absentia; The court, composed of six judges, some of whom specialize in terrorism, unanimously ruled that he was guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment. At the same time, an international arrest warrant was issued against him.
For the first time since his conviction and although he is facing a life sentence for a terrorist attack in which four people were murdered, Carleton University in Ottawa decided to bring him back to the academic institution and he will teach this year as a lecturer in sociology.
Aliza Shagrir's sons, Hagai and Oron Shagrir, say that reinstating Diab as a lecturer at the university is "outrageous."
"It is outrageous that an academic institution that is supposed to promote values of equality and justice decided to employ a cold-blooded murderer, who was unanimously convicted in a court in France. Apparently carrying out a murderous terrorist act against a Jewish target does not go against the values of Carleton University," they said in a statement.
Israeli consul general in Toronto, Idit Shamir, in a post on her X account called the university's decision "unconscionable."
"Hassan Diab, the terrorist who murdered my friend’s mother, Aliza Shagrir, before his eyes in the 1980 Paris synagogue bombing still lectures at Canada’s @Carleton_U. A French court gave him LIFE for murdering 4 souls & maiming 46. Yet Carlton University rewards him with a teaching position? Every class this convicted terrorist teaches dishonors the lives he destroyed. This isn't just a failure of justice - it's spitting on the graves of Jewish victims. Shame on those who enable this," she posted.
Bnai Brith Canada reacted angrily, saying: "Despite being handed a life sentence by a French court, Hassan Diab continues to live freely in Canada, while Carleton University, unconscionably, continues to allow him the privilege of teaching at a Canadian Institution. As Canadians, we cannot stand by while a convicted terrorist, affiliated with a listed terrorist group, teaches on our campuses! The university has ignored B’nai Brith’s formal request to terminate his position, allowing Diab to remain in a position of authority over students."
Bnai Brith started signing a petition demanding the immediate dismissal of the convicted terrorist. a danger to the well-being of its students, but it is an insult to the memory of the innocent victims of his heinous crime and an affront to all Canadians who value law and order," the organization said.
Bnai Brith is circulating a petition demanding the immediate dismissal of the convicted terrorist.
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