Press Conference on Wednesday
May 12, 2021, 10:00 am Eastern Time

May 10, 2021

Dear friends and supporters,

You are invited to an online press conference on Wednesday May 12, 2021, at 10:00 am Eastern Time, to hear about the latest developments in Dr. Hassan Diab’s case. On this day, France’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, will hear an appeal from Hassan’s lawyers regarding the shocking and deeply troubling flaws in the January 27, 2021, French Court of Appeal’s decision.

What: Press conference reacting to the latest developments in Dr. Hassan Diab’s case
When: Wednesday 12 May, 2021, at 10:00 am Eastern Time

Speakers will include:

  • Don Bayne, Hassan’s Canadian lawyer
  • Roger Clark, member of the Hassan Diab Support Committee
  • Ihsaan Gardee, Director of Programs and Communications, Amnesty International Canada
  • Tim McSorley (National Coordinator, International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG)

Amnesty International Canada will provide a livestream of the press conference. You can access the livestream directly through the Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/amnestycanada/videos

In its decision, the Court of Appeal misrepresented evidence, misstated facts, relied on discredited evidence, made up non-existent evidence, and engaged in contradictory reasoning and troubling analysis based on unfounded speculation.

Here’s a link to Don Bayne’s memos detailing the shocking flaws in the French Court of Appeal’s decision:

http://www.justiceforhassandiab.org/bayne-memos-2021-05

Video

Michelle Weinroth has written and produced this deeply moving poem about Hassan’s case (Music: “Adora Vivos”):

“Act now, Sir, and put an end to this tale of sorrow”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DzKReAJtms

Background

Dr. Hassan Diab is a Canadian sociology professor whose life has been turned upside down by false allegations of involvement in a bombing in Paris in 1980. Dr. Diab was extradited from Canada to France in 2014 based on a deeply flawed handwriting analysis (the “Bisotti report”) of five words in block letters on a hotel registration card. Five of the world’s leading handwriting experts criticized the Bisotti report as totally unreliable.

For over three years, Hassan languished in solitary confinement in a French prison, without formal charges or trial. In January 2018, Hassan was released from prison following the decision of two French investigative judges (juges d’instruction). They found that there is consistent evidence that Hassan was in Lebanon taking exams at the time of the 1980 bombing, in addition to significant evidence (fingerprints and palm prints) exculpating Hassan. Soon after, Hassan returned to his family and home in Canada.

However, the French state prosecutor and civil parties were determined to keep the case going, rather than admit their wrongful pursuit of an innocent man. They filed an appeal against the investigative judges’ Order of Dismissal.

On January 27, 2021, a French Court of Appeal overturned the decision of the investigative judges and ordered Hassan to stand trial, even though evidence against him had been entirely discredited. According to the French newspaper Le Monde, the Court of Appeal decision is exceptional, because never before, in terrorism cases, had a Court of Appeal opposed the investigating judges.

Hassan’s French lawyers have appealed to the Court of Cassation, France’s highest court, which will hear their appeal on May 12, 2021. In the meantime, the French avocat général has asked the Court of Cassation to quash the Court of Appeal decision referring Hassan Diab to trial, because of contradictions in its reasoning and failure to address issues raised by the defence.

At the press conference on May 12, speakers will comment on the latest developments in Dr. Hassan Diab’s case and the shocking and deeply troubling flaws in the January 27, 2021, Court of Appeal decision.

The Canadian government must refuse a potential second request for Hassan’s extradition to France, and put an immediate end to this continuing miscarriage of justice.

Hassan Diab Support Committee
Web: http://www.justiceforhassandiab.org
Email: diabsupport@gmail.com
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/justiceforhassandiab
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/JusticeforHDiab
Twitter: https://twitter.com/justiceforhdiab

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