French authorities this week charged the chief suspect in the bombing of a Paris synagogue - 34 years after the attack.

Hassan Diab, a Canadian citizen, was accused of first-degree murder over the 1980 attack on the Union Libérale Israélite synagogue on Rue Copernic, which left four dead.

Diab,60, was flown to France less than 24 hours after a decision by Canada's Supreme Court not to allow his appeal against a 2011 extradition order by a lower Canadian court.

The appeal was Diab's last attempt to stay in Canada, where he lived since 1983.

French intelligence has argued that Lebanese-born Diab was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and was heavily involved in the terror attack which rocked the French Jewish community.

Diab, who spent his years in Canada lecturing in sociology, was first arrested by Canadian authorities in 2008.

He has maintained his innocence throughout, claiming he was not in France in 1980, a victim of mistaken identity and that flawed handwriting evidence was used against him.