At this critical juncture, it is more important than ever to take action and call upon the Canadian government to protect Dr. Hassan Diab from another wrongful extradition.

On April 21, 2023, in a shameful and baseless decision, the Paris Court of Assize declared Hassan Diab guilty of a bombing near a Paris Synagogue in 1980, and sentenced him to life in prison.

No new evidence was presented at the Court of Assize. Hassan was wrongfully convicted based on unsourced intelligence and old, discredited material.

We are deeply concerned that France will make a second extradition request.

Here are two simple actions you can take to show the Canadian government that people are watching and care about justice.

Action #1: Send a Letter to PM Justin Trudeau

Please send the letter addressed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the ICLMG (International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group website), demanding that the government immediately commit to refusing any second extradition request from France:

https://iclmg.ca/diab-letter

If you wish, you can edit and personalise the letter before pressing the “Send your message” button.

Action #2: Phone PM Justin Trudeau

Please take a few minutes to phone PM Trudeau and urge him to protect Hassan Diab. 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.”

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.
• Hassan is innocent. In 2018, Hassan was released after two French investigative judges determined that there was no evidence linking him to the attack.
• 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.
• Honour the words you said in 2018: “What happened to Hassan Diab never should have happened”, and make sure that it never happens again.

Thank you for your continued support!

You are invited to an event in Ottawa, Ontario, in support of Dr. Hassan Diab:

• Event: WE’RE WITH YOU, HASSAN!
• Date: Monday May 15, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm ET
• Place: First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa (Fellowship Hall), 30 Cleary Ave, Ottawa (off Richmond Road, one traffic light East of Woodroffe Ave, Bus #11)

Speakers:

• Hassan Diab – His experience of the unfair trial
• Don Pratt – Personal witness to the trial
• Michelle Weinroth – Media coverage – the good, the bad and the ugly
• Don Bayne – What to expect and prepare for now
• Fiona Doyle – Student perspective – why we continue to fight
• Deborah Conners – What we can do to help

Details:

• Opportunities to express your support for Hassan
• Live music
• Cookies and juice
• Donations toward the Hassan’s legal defence fund are welcome.

It really means a great deal to Hassan to meet with you in person! But if you can’t, please join via Zoom:
      Time: May 15, 2023 19:00 Eastern Time (US and Canada)
      Zoom Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86922121945

Sponsored by:

• Carleton University students
• Hassan Diab Support Committee
• Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University

On April 21, 2023, the French Court of Assize declared Hassan guilty of the 1980 bombing in Paris despite documentary proof that he was not in France at that time, but in Lebanon taking sociology exams! The sham trial was politically motivated and unfairly conducted.

With this devastating result, it is urgent to gather Hassan’s supporters in a show of our commitment to do everything we can to protect Hassan from the expected French call for him to be extradited again, this time to face life imprisonment.

Song by the Ottawa Raging Grannies (2 minute video): Keep Hassan Diab Home

Please distribute widely!

Watch interviews with William Bourdon (Hassan’s French lawyer) and Don Bayne (Hassan’s Canadian lawyer) on CBC Power and Politics:

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2196792899670
(Interviews start at 27 minutes, 11 seconds)

William Bourdon, Hassan’s French lawyer, said his task of defending Hassan was an “impossible mission”. The court deliberately ignored and dismissed all “extremely convincing” evidence of Hassan’s innocence — that he was in Beirut at the time of the attack, that he did not belong to PFLP, and that he had very strong alibi. The presumption of innocence has been replaced by the presumption of guilt. After 43 years, the court is clinging on to Hassan Diab because of the pressure of the civil parties and the judges’ fear to be accused of laxity in finding those responsible for the 1980 attack.

Don Bayne, Hassan’s Canadian lawyer, called it a “political trial” and a “political conviction”, and remarked that “the victims deserve a trial; what they don’t deserve is a scapegoat or a miscarriage of justice.” Mr. Bayne also noted that Hassan was not convicted based on evidence. The type of material that was put forward by the prosecution (opinion of lay people, of journalists, of so-called intelligence people) is not evidence; it is opinion. This would never be allowed in a Canadian courtroom.

Moreover, the court that convicted Hassan was not a court of record. There is no transcript, no audio, and no video. So, there is no accurate record of exactly what happened inside that court. In Canada, courts are of record. What we have here is a wrongful conviction of a man in absentia from a court that was not a court of record.

The two French investigative judges (Jean-Marc Herbaut and Richard Foltzer), who spent three years investigating this case and know it inside out, went to the court and urged the court not to convict, saying there is no valid basis for a conviction, that they’ve checked every aspect of this case and Hassan is innocent. Despite this, there is a wrongful conviction.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Justice Minister David Lametti must protect Hassan and say No to any request for Hassan’s extradition.

Prime Minister Trudeau must honour his words from June 18, 2018, when a few months after Hassan’s release and return to Canada he said that “what happened to Hassan Diab never should have happened” and promised to “make sure that this never happens again.”

Thank you for your continued support!

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

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

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 alibi and the fact that his fingerprints and palm prints do not match those of the suspect.

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.”

In this political, Kafkaesque trial at the Court of Assize in Paris:

• No new evidence was presented.
• Anonymous and unsourced secret intelligence was reintroduced.
• Handwriting reports by prosecution ‘experts’, originally rejected and withdrawn as totally unreliable, were allowed back (sometimes with ‘new’ conclusions).
• Journalists who were not witnesses to the events were called to give their ‘expert’ opinions.
• There are no official transcripts or recordings of the proceedings.
• A verdict was given in less than a day following the end of the trial.
• There is no appeal possible following an in absentia

Civil parties, such as families of victims and intervening associations, were given legal standing and invited to testify during the trial about the emotional impact. Civil parties also had their own lawyers during the proceedings, and they cross-examined witnesses and made closing arguments. This has infused the trial with strong emotions making it hard to assess the evidence objectively.

Twelve years ago, when reaching his decision to extradite Dr. Diab (June 6, 2011), Justice Robert Maranger described the ‘evidence’ provided by France as “replete with seemingly disconnected information” and containing “a great deal of argument, hypothesis, conjecture, and references to information received, without describing the source of that information or the circumstances upon which it was received”. Justice Maranger gave no weight to virtually all components of France’s case: “The passport, the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) membership, the eyewitness descriptions, and the composite sketches/photographs, whether taken individually or viewed as a whole, would not be sufficient to justify committing Mr. Diab to trial in the Republic of France.”

In summing up, Justice Maranger wrote that France had presented “a weak case” and that “the prospects of conviction in the context of a fair trial, seem unlikely”.

Dr. Diab’s trial of the past three weeks has been a damning demonstration of the legitimacy of Justice Maranger’s misgivings and his disquiet at believing that Canada’s Extradition Act gave him no choice but to order Dr. Diab’s extradition. The pain and cruelty that followed are now well known: Dr. Diab spent over three years languishing in a French prison, mostly in solitary confinement, separated from his wife and children, and living with terrifying uncertainty about his future.

When the two French anti-terrorist investigative judges (Jean-Marc Herbaut and Richard Foltzer) concluded their thorough examination of all evidence and relevant witnesses, they determined that there was no evidence on which to base a trial and ordered Hassan’s immediate release (January 2018).

All the so-called ‘evidence’, presented by France to justify Hassan’s extradition on November 14, 2014, had been withdrawn, discredited, or rejected. The crucial alibi evidence, that he was in Beirut at the time of the bomb attack, was unambiguous and was accepted as such by the investigative judges. It was confirmed in official documents provided by the Lebanese University in Beirut and in witness statements taken from several students who were Hassan’s contemporaries.

Prime Minister Trudeau, commenting publicly a few months after Dr. Diab’s release and return to Canada, noted that “what happened to Hassan Diab never should have happened” and promised to “make sure that this never happens again.” (June 18, 2018). Canada’s Extradition Act failed abysmally to protect a Canadian citizen.

The time is now for Canada to make the Prime Minister’s commitment a reality. Canada must make it absolutely clear that no second request for the extradition of Dr. Diab will be accepted. There must be no further miscarriage of justice!