Dear Friends and Supporters,
On April 21, 2023, the nightmare that Dr. Hassan Diab and his family have endured for over 15 years was prolonged further by the guilty verdict produced by an unfair trial at the Court of Assize in Paris. The Court ignored all exonerating evidence (including Hassan’s alibis and the fact that his fingerprints and palm prints do not match those of the suspect), and relied on discredited and unfounded allegations.
Hassan’s lawyer in France remarked that after 43 years “the Court is clinging on to Hassan Diab because of the judges’ fear to be accused of laxity in finding those responsible for the 1980 attack.”
Donald Bayne, Hassan Diab’s Canadian lawyer, called it a “political trial” and remarked that “the victims deserve a trial. What they don’t deserve is a scapegoat or a miscarriage of justice.”
Read our latest media advisory:
https://www.justiceforhassandiab.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/DIAB-media-statement-2023-04-21.pdf
Urgent Action: Phone Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Urging Him to Protect Hassan Diab
Please take a few minutes to telephone Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and urge him to protect Dr. Hassan Diab and refuse any request from France for his extradition.
Here is the KEY MESSAGE we want to communicate to the Prime Minister:
“I am horrified that the baseless and shameful trial of Hassan Diab in Paris found Dr. Diab guilty. No new evidence was presented at the trial. The Court ignored all exonerating evidence, and relied on discredited and unfounded allegations. Canada must protect Hassan Diab and say NO to any request from France for his 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 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.
- The evidence proves that Hassan is innocent.
- The government has a moral obligation to protect Hassan.
- Hassan and his family have suffered long enough.
- Amnesty International has called on the French authorities to drop the case against Hassan.
- 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 Diab Reacts after Paris Court of Assize Finds Him Guilty
Watch CBC Power and Politics interview with Dr. Hassan Diab:
http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2196715075561 (12-minute video)
– – – – – – – – – –
Op-Ed: Canada Must Put a Stop to Injustice in the Hassan Diab Case Once and For All
By Alex Neve and Robert J. Currie, Globe and Mail, April 21, 2023:
“At every step of a Kafkaesque 15-year journey through the Canadian and French legal systems, Hassan Diab and his family have needed to believe that justice would ultimately prevail. Sadly, that hope has been shattered.
Friday’s [April 21, 2023] decision from the French Special Assize Court, which found Mr. Diab guilty in absentia of a horrific synagogue bombing in Paris despite overwhelming evidence that he was not in France at the time, is the latest surreal instalment. It is an indictment of the French justice system that the crime has remained unresolved ever since the devastating terrorist attack at the Rue Copernic synagogue killed four people and injured 46 others on Oct. 3, 1980. But justice is not served by scapegoating…
Evidence and rules of criminal procedure that would never be allowed in a Canadian courtroom have carried the day. There is little doubt that the resulting conviction is profoundly, scandalously unsound. And now, Canada awaits an anticipated second extradition request from France, which could be sent to court and result in yet another protracted extradition process – a torment that would be unbearable for Mr. Diab and his family.
But federal Justice Minister David Lametti can rescue Mr. Diab from this maze of injustice once and for all. He must make it clear to the French government that Canada will no longer be complicit in this travesty, and that under no circumstances will any further extradition request be granted.
In Canadian law, the decision to proceed with the extradition or not is entirely at the minister’s discretion. Discretion should, surely, always serve justice. And so justice means Canada must say no to France.”
Read the full Op-Ed:
https://www.justiceforhassandiab.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/globe-and-mail-2023-04-23.pdf
If this injustice can happen to Hassan, it can happen to anyone. 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
To subscribe, send an email to: diabsupport-Subscribe@lists.riseup.net
To unsubscribe, send an email to: diabsupport-Unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net