April 10, 2023
Dear friends and supporters,
The unfair in absentia trial of Dr. Hassan Diab is entering its second week. The trial that started on Monday April 3 is expected to continue through Friday April 21, and a decision is expected on that day.
The trial is being held five years after French investigative judges dismissed the case due to overwhelming evidence of Hassan’s innocence. As university records and testimony from Hassan’s former classmates show, he was in Lebanon taking his university exams in October 1980, at the time of the tragic rue Copernic bombing. Hassan’s fingerprints and palm print do not match those of the suspect. The totally flawed handwriting analysis presented by the French authorities has been discredited by five of the world’s leading handwriting experts. Don Bayne, Hassan Diab’s Canadian lawyer calls it a “political trial”, and worries it could lead to a wrongful conviction. Amnesty International is calling on the French authorities to drop the groundless charges against Dr. Diab.
1. CBC Power & Politics interview with Don Bayne
Watch CBC Power & Politics interview with Don Bayne, Hassan’s Canadian lawyer (10-minute video):
http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2190036547751
“The court that ordered the trial to go ahead said the victims deserve a trial. What they don’t deserve is a scapegoat or a miscarriage of justice… What’s at stake here is the wrongful conviction of a Canadian citizen.”
2. Hassan Diab: When will 15 years of injustice end?
Opinion piece by Alex Neve and Robert Currie in LAW360 Canada:
“The term Kafkaesque, connoting an unfathomable maze of surreal injustice, is often overused. But if there is a case in which it aptly applies, it is that of Dr. Hassan Diab.
Dr. Diab’s case has become emblematic of being trapped in a nightmarish labyrinth of injustice which seems to have no end. Two governments have the ability — and responsibility — to do something about that: France, most directly, but also Canada. It is unconscionable that they have yet to do so.”
3. Phone PM Justin Trudeau, Urging Him to Protect Hassan Diab
We are extending the phone-in to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office asking the Canadian government to protect Dr. Hassan Diab. Please take a few minutes to telephone the Prime Minister and urge him to protect Hassan and refuse any future request from France for Hassan’s extradition.
Here is PM Trudeau’s contact information:
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Hill Office – House of Commons:
Phone: 1 (613) 992-4211
Constituency Office (Montreal, Quebec):
Phone: 1 (514) 277-6020
When you call, you will probably be transferred to leave your message on an answering machine. Please, leave a polite message, and say your name, town/province, and phone number.
Here is the KEY MESSAGE we want to communicate to the Prime Minister: “Canada must protect Hassan Diab and say NO to any future request from France for his extradition.”
Here are some additional things you may wish to say:
- I am very concerned that France is scapegoating Hassan Diab for a crime he did not commit.
- France has the wrong man—and they know it.
- Hassan is innocent.
- The government has a moral obligation to protect Hassan.
- Hassan and his family have suffered long enough.
- Amnesty International is calling on the French authorities to drop the groundless charges against Dr. Diab.
- In 2018, Hassan was released after two French investigative judges determined that there was no evidence linking him to the attack.
- Honour the words you said in 2018: “What happened to Hassan Diab never should have happened”, and make sure that it never happens again.
- Hassan is being subjected to a trial in absentia that is an offence against international law and a breach of human rights.
4. Sign the Petition to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Petition in English
Pétition en français
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau must honor his words from June 2018 and refuse any future request from France for the extradition of Hassan Diab. Your support is vital to protect the rights of people in Canada against unjust prosecution and violation of fundamental rights.
We would like to reach at least 10,000 signatures on the petition before delivering it to PM Trudeau. Please sign the petition, if you haven’t done so already, and share it far and wide.
Thank you for your continued support!
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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