A Call To Action

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Since November 2008, Dr. Diab has been fighting extradition to France for his alleged involvement in a bombing in Paris in 1980 – a crime he did not commit. Dr. Diab’s fingerprints do not match those of the suspect. His palm prints do not match. His physical description does not match. Yet, at the end of a lengthy extradition hearing in June 2011, the Canadian judge decided to commit Hassan to extradition based on handwriting analysis that the judge himself described as “problematic”, “very confusing”, and with “conclusions that are suspect”.

In his judgment the judge wrote that while he felt obliged under Ontario’s interpretation of extradition law to commit Diab, he found the French evidence was weak and below the standard necessary to produce a conviction in a Canadian court.

Hassan’s case is a wake-up call for all of us. The standard for extradition is so low that Canada hands people over to other countries based on evidence that would not be accepted in a Canadian court. Moreover, France does not extradite its own citizens, which makes the extradition treaty between Canada and France dangerously unbalanced.

If extradited, Hassan will not receive a fair trial in France’s counter-terrorism courts. These courts place severe limitations on the ability of Hassan’s defence to challenge the handwriting analysis, and allow the use of unsourced secret intelligence that may be the product of torture.

The Canadian Minister of Justice, Mr. Rob Nicholson, has the final decision on whether to extradite Hassan. We need to urge the Minister to apply Canadian standards of evidence to extradition cases and not surrender Hassan.