“Stop Unjust Extradition Proceedings”
In this issue:
1 – Court Update
2 – Rally on Wednesday February 23, 9:30 am
3 – “Kafkaesque Justice”, Presentation by Dr. Rania Tfaily at CEP Event
4 – “Torture in the Courtroom”, BCCLA National Security Blog
5 – “Canadian Extradition and Secret Trials”, a report by Lia Tarachansky
6 – Sign Our Statement
7 – Donate to Hassan’s Legal Defence Fund
***** 1. COURT UPDATE *****
Hassan Diab’s extradition hearing will resume on Wednesday February 23, 2011, at 10:00 am. The hearing is taking place at the Ontario Superior Court, 161 Elgin Street, Ottawa, Ontario.
On Friday February 18, Judge Maranger stunned a packed courtroom when he ruled that he will not exclude the French handwriting analysis and will use it to extradite Hassan, despite finding it “very problematic”, “very confusing”, and with “suspect conclusions”.
The Judge likened handwriting analysis to “pseudo-science”, and found merit in the defense argument that the flawed methodology used in the French handwriting analysis results in manifestly unreliable conclusions. However, he ruled that Canadian standards of evidence admissibility should not be used when considering foreign evidence.
The broader implication of this decision is that Canadian citizens can be shipped to foreign countries, and their liberty denied, based on very unreliable and suspect evidence that would not be used in a Canadian court, simply because a foreign country requests it.
Hassan has always maintained that he is innocent of the charges, and he strongly condemns all ethnically, racially, and religiously motivated violence.
Read more about the Judge’s decision at:
http://www.justiceforhassandiab.org/news#January_18_2011
***** 2. RALLY ON WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 23, 9:30 am *****
Join our rally on Wednesday February 23, at 9:30 am.
Protest a decision that is contrary to the principles of fundamental justice.
Rally against extradition based on “very problematic” and “very confusing” evidence that does not meet Canadian standards.
What: Rally for justice for Hassan Diab
When: Wednesday February 23, 2011, at 9:30 am
Where: Outside the Ontario Superior Court, 161 Elgin Street, Ottawa
After the rally, we will pack the courtroom again.
Please circulate this notice widely, as the decision concerns all of us!
***** 3. KAFKAESQUE JUSTICE *****
On February 7, 2011, Dr. Rania Tfaily, Hassan’s partner, delivered a presentation at an event entitled “Kafkaesque Justice: The Case of Hassan Diab”. The event was organized by the Communications, Energy, and Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada, Local 2025, February 7, 2011.
In her presentation, Rania describes the Kafkaesque atmosphere that Hassan has been subjected to, since he was falsely accused by French authorities of involvement in a bombing in Paris in 1980.
“You sit through three weeks of powerful testimonies of leading experts in the field of handwriting who testify how appallingly unreliable and biased the “evidence” against you is. You know that any objective person who has heard the testimonies of these experts would conclude that a scientific handwriting analysis would actually show your innocence.”
Read the full text at:
http://friendsofhassandiab.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-kafkaesque-justice.html
***** 4. TORTURE IN THE COURT *****
British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) expresses concerns about recent decision regarding handwriting evidence in Hassan Diab’s extradition case.
“Given the admissibility of the handwriting evidence in support of Mr. Diab’s extradition, there’s the possibility that the Canadian court will authorize his extradition on the basis of that evidence alone, without having to resort to consideration of the unsourced intelligence. While that may abate the possibility of Canadian courts relying on evidence derived from torture, there’s still no guarantee that Mr. Diab will not be tried and possibly convicted in France based on evidence derived from torture…”
Read the full text at:
http://bccla.org/2011/02/torture-in-the-court/
***** 5. CANADIAN EXTRADITION AND SECRET TRIALS *****
Check out a video report on Hassan Diab’s extradition case by Lia Tarachansky of The Real News Network.
“Canada is in a position where it always wants to kowtow to larger or more established nations. So it becomes a question not will we jump but how high will we jump, and how much do we have to bend over backwards to accommodate. In fact, never in the history of Canada have we prosecuted in Canada rather than sending people back to face prosecution in a foreign country.”
Gary Botting, Canadian lawyer and extradition specialist
Watch the video at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lBf3T5WvHIU
***** 6. SIGN OUR STATEMENT *****
Endorse our statement, “A Shock to our Conscience and an Affront to Liberty”, and take a firm public stand against abusive extradition proceedings.
Read the statement at:
http://www.justiceforhassandiab.org/#statement-en (English)
http://www.justiceforhassandiab.org/statement-fr (French)
To endorse the statement, send an email to diabsupport@gmail.com and let us know that you wish to sign the statement.
Current list of signatories is at: http://www.justiceforhassandiab.org/signatories
***** 7. DONATE TO HASSAN’S LEGAL DEFENCE FUND *****
Please consider extending your support through a donation to Hassan’s legal defense fund.
The two-plus year legal battle and the monthly GPS monitoring fee have exhausted Hassan’s financial resources. He urgently needs donations to succeed in his struggle for justice—a struggle we all have a stake in!
To donate by check or money order, please mail your donation (payable to “Bayne Sellar Boxall”) to:
Bayne Sellar Boxall
Attention: Diab legal defence fund
Suite 500, 200 Elgin Street
Ottawa, Ontario K2P 1L5
Canada
To donate using a credit card or PayPal account, please visit:
http://www.justiceforhassandiab.org/donate and click on the “Donate” button.
Hassan Diab Support Committee
Email: diabsupport@gmail.com
Web: http://www.justiceforhassandiab.org
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/justiceforhassandiab
Twitter: http://twitter.com/justiceforhdiab
Blog: http://friendsofhassandiab.blogspot.com
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