The common-law wife of an Ottawa university professor accused of setting an explosion that killed four people 28 years ago told an Ottawa bail hearing Friday morning that her husband wasn't involved in a terrorist bombing.
"I believe he is innocent," Rania Tfaily told federal assistant Crown attorney Suzanne Schriek. "I have known him for some time. I know his views. I think this is a mistake."
Tfaily teaches sociology at Carleton University, as does Hassan Naim Diab, who is wanted by French authorities in connection with a terrorist bombing at a Paris synagogue in 1980, which killed four people and prompted stepped-up security at Jewish community institutions around the world.
France is seeking to have Diab extradited to face charges there. The current hearing is to decide whether he can be freed on bail while Canadian courts consider the French request.
The French say the Lebanese-born Diab was a member of a radical socialist Palestinian organization when he was a student in Lebanon, and that he helped carry out not only the attack in Paris but also a car-bombing in Antwerp, Belgium, the next year.
Tfaily said Diab "would never do such a thing."
"We discuss politics every day," said the 30 year old. "I know his views about terrorism and the killing of innocent people."