One of three men sought by French authorities in connection with a deadly 1982 attack on a Jewish restaurant in Paris was arrested in Jordan this month and later released on bail, and is awaiting an extradition decision, a Jordanian official said Wednesday.
Zuhair al-Abassi was arrested on June 1 after an Interpol arrest warrant was issued for him in March. He was then released on bail after appearing in court, and is banned from travel until Jordanian authorities determine whether he will be extradited, the official said on condition of anonymity.
International arrest warrants were issued for al-Abassi and two other men suspected of killing six people and injuring 22 others at Paris’ Jo Goldenberg kosher restaurant nearly 33 years ago, the Paris prosecutor’s office said in March.
Besides being banned from travel, al-Abassi is “under security watch, of course,” the Jordanian official said.
The restaurant, in the heart of Paris’ historic Jewish quarter, was packed with customers when someone threw a live grenade into it in August 1982. Attackers then opened fire with guns.
Investigators attributed the attack at the time to a Palestinian splinter group, CNN affiliate BFMTV reported, but no group claimed responsibility.
The arrest comes at a time of heightened sensitivity in France over terrorist threats.
Four people were killed in a terror attack in January on a kosher supermarket in Paris by an Islamist extremist, Amedy Coulibaly, who also shot a policewoman. Those killings came two days after two other gunmen killed 12 people in an attack on the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine, targeted because it published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
Several cemeteries were vandalized last month, with the damage including swastikas scrawled inside two Jewish cemeteries.
CNN’s Jomana Karadsheh reported from Amman, Jordan. CNN’s Jason Hanna wrote in Atlanta. CNN’s Sandrine Amiel and Laura Smith-Spark contributed to this report.
