December 19, 2023
Dear friends and supporters,
With an unfair trial in France looming, Hassan needs all the help he can get to prevent a miscarriage of justice and a wrongful second extradition.
Hassan was extradited to France in November 2014 and was held for more than three years in a prison near Paris while the investigation into the 1980 Rue Copernic bombing continued. In January of 2018, two French investigative judges determined that there was no evidence linking Hassan to the bombing, and he was released unconditionally and returned to his home in Canada.
However, due to political pressure, French prosecutors appealed Hassan’s release, and despite a wealth of evidence exonerating him, the French judiciary set an April 2023 date for trying Hassan for a crime he did not commit.
Given all the injustices Hassan has already faced, we cannot assume a fair outcome to the show trial. If Hassan is convicted, then France will request his extradition a second time. The Government of Canada must put an end to the relentless persecution Hassan is facing and refuse any future request for his extradition.
Enough is enough! Please help by taking the following two actions:
1. Sign the petition to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Petition in English
Pétition en français
Please share the petition with at least 5 people you know, and post it widely on social media. We need a groundswell of support to protect Hassan from a second wrongful extradition!
2. Send a Postcard to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Please send a postcard to Prime Minister Trudeau. Postcards are available at Octopus Books, 116 Third Avenue, Ottawa. Please drop by Octopus Books to sign a postcard, and get extra postcards to share with others.
If you are not in the Ottawa area, you can order postcards by sending an email to diabsupport@gmail.com. Provide with your postal mailing address and the number of postcards you’d like to receive, and we will gladly mail postcards to you.
(No postage is necessary to mail the postcard from Canada.)
3. Rally for Hassan Diab on November 13, 2022
On November 13, supporters of Hassan Diab held a rally at the Human Rights Monument in Ottawa, marking the 8th anniversary of Hassan Diab’s extradition.
Speakers included Professor Deborah Conners and students from her class at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University, Reverend Eric Meter (First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa), Eric Schiller (Retired Professor from the University of Ottawa, human rights advocate, and member of the Quakers in Ottawa), Susan Spronk (Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) Board Member, Associate Professor in the School of International Development and Global Studies at Ottawa University), and Michelle Weinroth (writer and member of Independent Jewish Voices Canada).
Statements were read from Don Davies (NDP Member of Parliament for Vancouver Kingsway) and Diana Ralph (Member and learning coordinator of Or Haneshamah Synagogue and co-cofounder of Independent Jewish Voices). The Ottawa Raging Grannies also sang a song.
A playlist of the speakers from the rally is available: here
4. Press Conference on November 14, 2022
On November 14, supporters of Hassan Diab held a press conference to discuss the upcoming French trial. Members of the media heard from Don Bayne (Hassan’s Canadian lawyer), Roger Clark (Former Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada,1988-1999, and member of the Hassan Diab Support Committee), Rob Currie (Professor of Law at the Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University), Tim McSorley (National Coordinator of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group), Alex Neve (Former Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada, 2000-2020, and Senior Fellow at the University of Ottawa, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs), and Jo Wood (Member of the Hassan Diab Support Committee).
A full video of the press conference is available: here
5. Recent Articles
Thank you for your continued support, and best wishes for 2023!
Hassan Diab Support Committee
Web: http://www.justiceforhassandiab.org
Email: diabsupport@gmail.com
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/justiceforhassandiab
Twitter: https://twitter.com/justiceforhdiab
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