Professor Hassan Diab is a Canadian citizen and academic who is facing extradition to France to stand trial in connection with the 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue. This even though Diab was in Beirut, Lebanon at the time of the attack, writing university exams.
This is the second time France has tried to hang this crime on Professor Diab. In 2014, he was extradited to France and held for three years, mainly in solitary confinement, before a French judge ruled that there was not sufficient evidence to put him on trial. Professor Diab’s case is explored in detail at justiceforhassandiab.org. Among other things, it reveals serious flaws in Canada’s extradition system and France’s judicial system.
Roger Clark and Candice Bodnaruk discuss the case, Canada’s role in Mr. Diab’s extradition, and actions people can take now to prevent further injustices against Professor Diab.
Roger Clark is a former national Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada and has been active in Hassan Diab’s support group for the past seven years. He has led several human rights investigations, including research missions to Cambodia, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Nepal, Guatemala and Algeria. In 2001 he was awarded the Order of Canada for his human rights work, both in Canada and internationally.
Candice Bodnaruk is an executive member of Peace Alliance Winnipeg. She has been active in Palestinian Solidarity work for many years and is the Canadian Columnist for the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs magazine.