The Palestinian Authority Hands Over Mahmoud Al-Adra to France.. What Do We Know About Him?

Sada News - Today, Thursday, the Palestinian Authority handed over Palestinian Mahmoud Al-Adra, known as Hisham Harb, to French authorities, following accusations of carrying out an attack in Paris about 43 years ago.

France accuses Harb along with other Palestinians of being involved in a violent attack in 1982 that targeted a restaurant in the Jewish quarter in central Paris, resulting in the deaths of 6 people and injuring 22. Since 2015, France has been demanding his extradition for trial under an international arrest warrant.

Lawyer Ammar Dweik from the Independent Commission for Human Rights said: "The family of Hisham Harb contacted me today and informed me that they were notified by the Palestinian Authority about his handover to the French authorities."

For his part, Bilal Al-Adra (Hisham Harb's son) stated that his father called him this morning from a private number and was crying, saying to him, "Now they want to hand me over to the French authorities, take care of yourselves, I love you very much."

Al-Jazeera's correspondent in Ramallah, Joufara Al-Badiri, reported this afternoon that the family confirmed to her that the police informed them that Harb had been transferred to Jordan in preparation for his extradition to France. He had been placed in a prison in Yatta, far south of Hebron in the southern West Bank, just three days ago.

The Palestinian police in Ramallah summoned Bilal Al-Adra this afternoon and officially informed him about his father's handover.

According to the son, a court session in Ramallah was supposed to be held on Thursday to consider his father's case, and he indicated that a Palestinian administrative court "rejected his lawyer's request yesterday Wednesday for an urgent decision against extradition without providing reasons."

Concerns About the Consequences of Extradition

Al-Adra expressed that the family fears for his father's fate due to the "seriousness of the extradition, which is considered illegal, and thus there are no guarantees for a fair trial."

The Harb family is also concerned for him due to his suffering from several illnesses, including cancer and neurological issues.

Last November, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas promised to hand over Harb, especially after "France prepared the recognition of the State of Palestine as a suitable framework for this French request."

However, lawyer Dweik confirmed that the handover represents a "serious violation of the Palestinian Basic Law and a dangerous precedent."

On November 12, 13 Palestinian human rights and civil organizations issued a joint statement in which they considered that any action leading to the extradition of a Palestinian citizen to a foreign entity constitutes a blatant violation of the Palestinian Basic Law.

Who is Hisham Harb?

A retired Palestinian colonel, he is 72 years old and was affiliated with the Fatah Revolutionary Council, which was established in 1974, a breakaway faction of the Palestinian Fatah movement, which was active in the 1970s and 1980s, and carried out a series of attacks worldwide, including assassinations, airplane hijackings, and attacks against Israeli targets.

Harb started as a firearms trainer at the organization’s training camps in Syria, later becoming a member of the Central Committee and head of the armament section in Europe and Asia, following his success in assassinating a dissenter from the organization in Madrid.

He later abandoned armed activity and traveled between several Arab countries before deciding to return to Gaza with Yasser Arafat in July 1994 after regularizing his status like hundreds of other members as part of the procedures following the signing of the Oslo Accords on September 13, 1993.

After moving to live in the West Bank with his family, Harb joined the General Intelligence Service in Ramallah until his retirement with the rank of colonel.

The Palestinian Authority arrested Harb on September 19, just a few days before France formally recognized the State of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly on September 22.

At that time, French President Emmanuel Macron praised the "excellent cooperation" with the Palestinian Authority and emphasized that Paris was working with Ramallah for the swift extradition of the suspect.

Arrest warrants had long been issued for the other four suspects, including Hisham Harb, Nizar Tawfiq Hamada, Amjad Atta, and Nabil Othman, who are outside of France.

Source: Al Jazeera + French