Massey College, along with CBC and the House of Anansi Press, co-hosts the Massey Lectures, widely regarded as the most important public lectures in Canada.
In the Massey Lectures of 2025, Alex Neve, human rights lawyer and former secretary general of Amnesty International Canada, explores what it takes to make human rights truly universal. The core promise of human rights is that these rights extend to everyone, everywhere, at all times, without exception. However, too often human rights are applied selectively, withdrawn on the whims of political leaders, or ignored altogether, and the broken promise is palpable in humanity’s darkest moments, not only in violent conflict, but also in the economic, political, and social structures of our fractured world. In his lectures, Professor Neve investigates where we went wrong, how we have progressed, and what we can do to fulfill the promise that human rights are inherent, inalienable, and applicable to all people.
On September 19, 2025, during the Q&A session of the Massey Lecture in Toronto, an attendee asked Alex Neve a question about the case of Hassan Diab. Below is the question and Professor Neve’s response.
QUESTION (by an attendee): Professor Neve, given your longstanding leadership in defending human rights and due process, I’d like to ask you about the case of Dr. Hassan Diab—a Canadian citizen who was extradited to France in 2014 based on discredited evidence, and who now faces the threat of a second extradition. What is your perspective on his ongoing ordeal, and what concrete steps can concerned Canadians take to prevent a repeat of this injustice?
ANSWER (by Alex Neve): That’s a very good question. I know the case well and I could not agree with you more. It is a powerful example of the utter failure of the universality of human rights. Close to 20 years on, Dr. Diab still faces the agonizing prospect of a wrongful—we talk about wrongful conviction—of a wrongful extradition to France. That has hung over his head and his family’s head for all of these years. It is an indictment of our justice system and of our political system because the courts failed to issue the rulings that would have protected him from those violations of his rights. Political officials, ministers who have the ability to step in and make sure by refusing to extradite him the first time refused to do so. And now the fact that—even as the profound injustices and quite frankly the fact there’s not a shred of evidence that backs up any of the allegations against him—that it is still possible that he may be extradited and that the Federal government stays silent in the face of that—is a disgrace. And regarding the last part of your question, what concretely can be done—and I believe there’s postcards and petitions out there that people can look for. But it is essential that we press now Minister of Justice Sean Fraser to make it clear to the French government, but most importantly to Dr. Diab, that Canada says this is over. We will not entertain a second extradition request and that is the end of the story.
For more information: