French authorities have detained a 72-year-old man considered a key suspect in a grenade and gun attack on a Jewish restaurant in Paris in 1982, in which six people were killed. Hicham Harb was extradited by the Palestinian National Authority on Thursday, in response to a request last September by France's National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (PNAT).
Harb, whose real name is Mahmoud Khader Abed Adra, is suspected of directing the attack in the Rue des Rosiers and acting as one of the gunmen who shot at diners. French President Emmanuel Macron thanked the Palestinian Authority and said it was 'a concrete demonstration' of judicial cooperation resulting from France's recognition of a Palestinian state in September 2025.
Upon arrival at the Villacoublay air force base near Paris, Harb was placed in detention, according to PNAT. No-one has ever been convicted of the six killings inside and outside the Jo Goldenberg restaurant in the historically Jewish Marais quarter of Paris, which left over 20 others wounded. The attackers initially threw a grenade into the restaurant, and at least three men then entered firing machine guns as people tried to escape.
Last year, France's highest judicial court, the Court of Cassation, ordered a trial for six suspects, of whom three are in absentia and living in the West Bank, Jordan, and Kuwait. The Rue des Rosiers attack was blamed on a Palestinian splinter group founded by notorious militant Abu Nidal, who was shot dead in Iraq in 2002. This group was notorious for a series of violent attacks. Two suspects in the Paris attack are already in France, including Norwegian citizen Abou Zayed, who is suspected of being one of the gunmen.
Abou Zayed's lawyers deny he had any involvement in the shooting, while Hicham Harb's son claims his father's extradition was illegal and that he won't receive a fair trial. The Paris courts have rejected an appeal to have the case heard by a jury instead of judges in a special court. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, who met with victims' families last year, expressed determination to ensure that justice is served. Forty-four years after the attack, he affirmed that 'France never forgets and never gives up' in the fight against anti-Semitism and terrorism.
Harb, whose real name is Mahmoud Khader Abed Adra, is suspected of directing the attack in the Rue des Rosiers and acting as one of the gunmen who shot at diners. French President Emmanuel Macron thanked the Palestinian Authority and said it was 'a concrete demonstration' of judicial cooperation resulting from France's recognition of a Palestinian state in September 2025.
Upon arrival at the Villacoublay air force base near Paris, Harb was placed in detention, according to PNAT. No-one has ever been convicted of the six killings inside and outside the Jo Goldenberg restaurant in the historically Jewish Marais quarter of Paris, which left over 20 others wounded. The attackers initially threw a grenade into the restaurant, and at least three men then entered firing machine guns as people tried to escape.
Last year, France's highest judicial court, the Court of Cassation, ordered a trial for six suspects, of whom three are in absentia and living in the West Bank, Jordan, and Kuwait. The Rue des Rosiers attack was blamed on a Palestinian splinter group founded by notorious militant Abu Nidal, who was shot dead in Iraq in 2002. This group was notorious for a series of violent attacks. Two suspects in the Paris attack are already in France, including Norwegian citizen Abou Zayed, who is suspected of being one of the gunmen.
Abou Zayed's lawyers deny he had any involvement in the shooting, while Hicham Harb's son claims his father's extradition was illegal and that he won't receive a fair trial. The Paris courts have rejected an appeal to have the case heard by a jury instead of judges in a special court. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, who met with victims' families last year, expressed determination to ensure that justice is served. Forty-four years after the attack, he affirmed that 'France never forgets and never gives up' in the fight against anti-Semitism and terrorism.
