The Right Honourable Mark Carney, P.C., M.P.
Prime Minister of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A2

Dear Prime Minister Carney,

We the undersigned are writing to express our serious concern regarding the continued injustice faced by Dr. Hassan Diab, a Canadian citizen and university professor in Ottawa.

The RCMP arrested Professor Diab at his home in November 2008, following a request from French officials who claimed that he was involved in a 1980 synagogue bombing in Paris.

In 2011, the Canadian extradition judge, Justice Robert Maranger, committed Dr. Diab for extradition to France based on deeply flawed and widely criticized handwriting analysis that compared Dr. Diab’s handwriting to five block-lettered words on a hotel registration card from 1980. Justice Maranger described the handwriting analysis as “convoluted,” “very confusing,” and based on “conclusions that are suspect.” He further noted that France had presented “a weak case” and that “the prospects of conviction in the context of a fair trial seem unlikely.” However, under Canada’s Extradition Act—with its limited protections—he had no choice but to order Dr. Diab’s extradition.

Dr. Diab was extradited to France in 2014, despite compelling evidence supporting his alibi and raising serious doubts about his identification. As a direct result of this miscarriage of justice, Dr. Diab was held in a French prison for over three years, without charge or trial. For most of that time he was kept in solitary confinement.

Two of France’s most respected juges d’instruction undertook extensive investigations and concluded that the evidence did not justify sending Dr. Diab to trial. In January 2018 they ordered Dr. Diab’s immediate and unconditional release and he rejoined his family in Ottawa.

Astonishingly, in 2023, a French trial was held in absentia and declared Dr. Diab guilty, ignoring earlier findings and relying on discredited “intelligence” that is not allowed in a Canadian court. This conviction disregarded the alibi evidence, the fundamental concerns raised by the reliability of the identification evidence, and the findings that led to his release in 2018.

Dr. Diab’s case as a whole raises fundamental questions about respect for human rights, the principles of natural justice and procedural fairness, and the scapegoating of an individual in the absence of evidentiary support.

Prime Minister, we request that your government publicly commit to not authorize any new extradition of Dr. Hassan Diab, and that the Minister of Justice exercise all the powers conferred on him by law in order to protect his rights as a Canadian citizen.

The Canadian government’s reluctance to publicly commit to protecting Dr. Diab leaves him and his family exposed to prolonged uncertainty, fearing a second extradition request.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent issue of justice and human rights. We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,