A "weak case" is enough to have Hassan Diab extradited to France, where he will face charges in the deadly 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue, a judge ruled Monday.
Diab, on bail for most of the rancourous 2 1/2-year proceedings, was ordered taken into custody by Judge Robert Maranger to disappointed murmurs from the packed gallery.
"I conclude that the Republic of France has submitted a weak case, where conviction seems unlikely," Maranger said in an oral summary.
The test for an extradition case, however, is whether France has offered evidence "upon which a reasonable jury, properly instructed, could convict," Maranger wrote in his 79-page decision.
France met that low hurdle.
"The evidence that tips the scale in favour of committal is the handwriting comparison evidence," Maranger wrote.
The handwriting evidence purports to show that Diab was Alexander Panadriyu, who printed five words on a hotel registration card during a Sept. 22-23, 1980, stay.
Panadriyu also bought a motorcycle, slept with a hooker, packed the motorcycle with explosives and then set them to blow up outside the Rue Copernic synagogue on Oct. 3.
Four people were killed and more than forty injured. Diab faces counts of murder, attempted murder and damage to property.
Under extradition law, French evidence is assumed to be reliable - including the handwriting comparison evidence.
That infamous French report was savaged first by defence experts and then by Maranger himself, who called its conclusions "suspect."
Two earlier reports were withdrawn after it was revealed they had compared the hotel card to writing samples that did not belong to Diab.
Maranger ruled in February that defence lawyer Donald Bayne had not met the exacting standard of "manifest unreliability" - defined by Maranger as an "extreme point" - because the third report's author had a resume suggesting she was qualified.
The report stayed in.
Experts in French law had also attested to the likely hostile reception a French court would give defence evidence - particularly defence handwriting experts.
French authorities allege Diab entered France with false papers, acting as part of a hit team for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
French evidence "offer(s) some proof" that Diab was a member at the time of the bombing, Maranger wrote.
But France provided no evidence that the group was responsible for the bombing, he said.
Diab is appealing Monday's decision and will be seeking bail from the Court of Appeal for Ontario as early as Thursday.
Maranger will prepare a report for Justice Minister Robert Nicholson, who bears ultimate responsibility for Diab's fate.
"It is presupposed, based on our treaty with France, that they will conduct a fair trial and that justice will be done," Maranger said. "This decision stands for that proposition - nothing more, nothing less."