June Diab Ruling

OTTAWA — A former University of Ottawa sociology professor will find out in June if he’ll be extradited to France to face  murder charges in a 1980 Paris shul bombing that killed four people. Hassan Diab, 57, says he’s the victim of mistaken identity and denies all charges. His extradition hearing ended last week, and Judge Robert Maranger said he’d deliver a ruling June 8. He said the case hinges on controversial expert French handwriting analysis allegedly tying Diab to the crime.

Sentencing Delayed  

CALGARY — A neo-Nazi teen who spray-painted antisemitic graffiti on two shuls and other Jewish sites in Calgary in September 2009 will be sentenced June 16, after meeting face to face with a Holocaust survivor. The youth, who was 17 at the time of the attacks, pleaded guilty last July to wilfully promoting hatred and mischief causing damage to a house of worship. It was Calgary’s first hate-crime conviction. A sentencing hearing was adjourned March 4 because the Calgary Jewish Community Council wanted a particular survivor to be part of the legally mandated process, but the person was out of the country, the Calgary Sun reported.

New Security Funds  

CALGARY — A Jewish school and a shul in Calgary are among three Alberta institutions to share $38,000 in federal funding for security infrastructure enhancements. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Diane Ablonczy announced the funds for Akiva Academy and Chabad Alberta earlier this month. A Chabad synagogue was among a number of Calgary Jewish sites hit in a September 2009 graffiti attack.