Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the French Government continues to seek the imprisonment of Dr. Hassan Diab, a Canadian citizen, for an alleged terrorist attack that happened 44 years ago. Friends and supporters of Dr. Diab have launched a Parliamentary petition campaign aimed at getting the Canadian Government to commit publically to protecting Dr. Diab.
“We, the undersigned, citizens or residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to formally declare that Canada will neither accept nor agree to any second request from the French Government for the extradition of Dr. Hassan Diab in connection with the 1980 Paris attack.”
To sign the petition, follow either of these links:
https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-4901
https://www.noscommunes.ca/petitions/fr/Petition/Details?Petition=e-4901
Background:
by the Hassan Diab Support Committee
One year ago, on 21 April 2023, the Special Court of Assize in Paris unjustly declared Canadian citizen Hassan Diab guilty, based on unfounded allegations and flawed intelligence that is not allowed in a Canadian court. He was sentenced in absentia to life in prison for a crime he did not commit: the 1980 bombing outside a Paris synagogue.
Driven by political pressure to scapegoat an innocent man, the Special Court of Assize trial ignored exonerating evidence and the alibi firmly establishing Dr. Diab’s presence in Beirut, Lebanon, at the time of the tragic 1980 attack. The prosecutors were allowed to vilify the accused, filibuster, and steal the defense’s speaking time. The court had no transcripts or other recording of the event.
The “incriminating” story, which French prosecutors touted throughout the trial, was similar to the narrative presented in 2008 to Canadian extradition authorities when Dr. Diab was first sought. The case rested on unsourced and unsworn intelligence which was withdrawn from the extradition proceedings due to its highly problematic nature.
When reaching his decision to extradite Dr. Diab in 2011, Canadian Justice Robert Maranger described the “evidence” provided by France as “replete with seemingly disconnected information” and containing “a great deal of argument, hypothesis, conjecture, and references to information received, without describing the source of that information or the circumstances upon which it was received”. Justice Maranger gave no weight to any component of France’s case except for a French handwriting analysis report that compared Dr. Diab’s handwriting to five words on a hotel registration card in 1980. In summing up, Justice Maranger wrote that France had presented “a weak case” and that “the prospects of conviction in the context of a fair trial, seem unlikely”.
In a mind-boggling irony, the Court of Assize in 2023 relied on the intelligence that France had withdrawn from the Canadian extradition hearing in 2011 to declare him guilty, and discarded the handwriting analysis that was used to commit him to extradition in 2014 due to its unreliability.
In short, the intelligence which was withdrawn from the extradition proceedings more than a decade ago became France’s basis for sentencing Hassan Diab to life in prison in 2023. Meanwhile, the handwriting analysis that was used to extradite him was discarded by the Special Court of Assize. In essence, France and Canada cancelled each other’s grounds for inculpating Hassan Diab.
Dr. Hassan Diab has been subjected to a prolonged and unjust legal ordeal in Canada and in France. The Special Court of Assize declaration of guilt in April 2023 prolongs his suffering. He and his wife and children live a very stressful life in limbo, not knowing when or if a further unjust process might be commenced against him and he will be snatched away again.
In June 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged the hardship that Hassan has faced, and stated that “this is something that obviously was an extremely difficult situation to go through for himself, for his family” and promised to “make sure that it never happens again”. The Diab case is no longer a purely judicial matter. It is a decidedly political issue. The Canadian government must say NO to a second extradition request from France (whether already submitted or to be submitted).
CONTEXT
In 2014, Diab was unjustly extradited from Canada to France based on a flawed handwriting analysis report from France that compared his handwriting to five words on a hotel registration card in 1980. Defense handwriting experts had testified that the handwriting report used improper methodology and is totally flawed and unreliable.
Dr. Diab spent 38 months in a French maximum-security prison while the French continued their investigation. For most of that time, he was held in solitary confinement for up to 22 hours a day. In 2018, two highly experienced French investigative magistrates (Jean-Marc Herbaut and Richard Foltzer) ascertained, after more than three years of scrupulous inquiry, that there was no evidence to bring Dr. Hassan Diab to trial or to convict him. A powerful alibi and exculpatory fingerprint evidence had rendered void all allegations against him. The magistrates ordered Hassan’s immediate release, and in January 2018 he returned to his home and family in Canada.
The sense of relief and the hope that justice finally prevailed were short-lived. The French prosecutor appealed against Dr. Diab’s release due to political pressure and victims’ advocacy, leading Dr. Diab to stand trial in absentia in April 2023. During the in absentiatrial, the Investigative magistrates (Jean-Marc Herbaut and Richard Foltzer) testified that there was no valid basis for a conviction. Despite this, the Special Court of Assize in Paris sentenced Dr. Diab to life imprisonment and ordered his arrest. Donald Bayne, Hassan Diab’s Canadian lawyer remarked that “The unjust French conviction was based on secret, unsourced, uncircumstanced and unreliable ‘intelligence’ – inadmissible in the Canadian system of justice. Canada should not be party to this injustice.”
It is clear that Hassan Diab is not the bomber of rue Copernic. His fingerprints do not match those of the suspect. He was writing exams in Beirut at the time of the bombing. He is an innocent man, unjustly suffering years of political and judicial harassment. Dr. Diab’s countless supporters span Canada from coast to coast. They are exhorting the Canadian government to act with integrity and stop France’s relentless persecution of fellow Canadian citizen, Hassan Diab.
A parliamentary petition (e-4091) was launched, on April 10 this year, requiring the Canadian government to provide an answer. It reads: “We, the undersigned, citizens or residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to formally declare that Canada will neither accept nor agree to any second request from the French Government for the extradition of Dr. Hassan Diab in connection with the 1980 Paris attack.”
https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-4901
https://www.noscommunes.ca/petitions/fr/Petition/Details?Petition=e-4901