1980 Paris synagogue bombing suspect sent back to jail

The Lebanese-Canadian professor accused of involvement of a 1980 Paris synagogue bombing has been sent back to prison after being released on bail 10 days ago. He had already been detained for 18 months awaiting trial.

Police and firefighters at the scene of the rue Copernic synagogue bombing in 1980 AFP

Hassan Diab, 62, was extradited from Canada in November 2014 and charged with responsibility for the attack, which killed four and injured about 40 people.

Earlier this month a judge freed him on bail and ordered him to wear an ankle bracelet, after Diab's ex-wife, Nawal Copty, testified that he had taken her to Beirut airport on the day that stamps in the passport used in evidence against him show that its owner was in Paris.

Victims' lawyers and the leader of France's leading Jewish group protested when he was freed on bail and prosecutors appealed against the decision, which has now been overturned.

"It's a very unfair decision," Diab's lawyer William Bourdon commented.

"On the merits of the case, we are absolutely convinced of his guilt," Bernard Cahen, lawyer for one of the civil parties to the case, said. Diab has been charged with murder, attempted murder and destruction of property as part of a terrorist enterprise.