A BIG THANK YOU to everyone who attended the Hassan Diab fundraising event in Ottawa on June 9, 2012. More than 100 people came out for great food, music, poetry, and to meet Hassan and show their support. A very special thank-you to the organizers, the artists, and to everyone who made a contribution.
Hassan and his supporters will carry on the fight for justice. This fight is for Hassan, but it affects us all.
Please join Hassan Diab’s friends and supporters at a fundraising dinner.
Date: Saturday June 9, 2012
Time: 6:30 PM – 9:30 PM
Place: First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa, 30 Cleary Ave, Ottawa, Ontario (map)
The evening will feature:
• Delicious food
• Live entertainment, including Amelia Leclair of the Three Little Birds
• Poetry reading by spoken word poet
• Raffle and silent auction
Public transportation: Bus #2. Lots of parking is available.
No need to reserve in advance. Bring your family and friends!
There is no charge for dinner, but your donations will be very welcome so we can continue the support for Dr. Hassan Diab.
If you cannot come to the event and would like to donate, please visit:
http://www.justiceforhassandiab.org/donate
“The multi-year extradition saga of Ottawa university professor Hassan Diab — sought by the French for his alleged role in a 1980 Paris bombing that claimed four lives — has taken yet another bizarre turn with the news that Diab has not even been formally charged. He is merely sought for questioning, with no guarantee that a trial would ensue.
Despite this astounding discovery — no doubt discomfiting to the Ontario judge who presided over Diab’s two-year extradition hearing — Justice Minister Rob Nicholson has signed a surrender order committing Diab to years of French detention without charge while the 32-year investigation into the crime continues.
It’s a decision that Diab’s lawyer, Don Bayne, says is unprecedented in Canadian history. But then again, nothing about the Diab case passes the judicial smell test. It would be an understatement at best to declare that Diab, who adamantly denies any involvement and condemns violence and anti-Semitism, is a victim of mistaken identity. Indeed, Diab’s finger and palm prints, handwriting, and physical description do not match those of the suspect, yet the case has ground on largely due to an arcane process that sacrifices the Charter rights of an individual to the politics of foreign relations…”
Read the full article at rabble.ca:
Dr. Hassan Diab speaking at a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, April 13, 2012:
“I am innocent of the accusations against me. I have never engaged in terrorism.”
“I am not an anti-Semite. I have always been opposed to bigotry and violence.”
“My life has been turned upside down because of unfounded allegations and suspicions.”
“It would be a grave injustice to extradite me for a crime that even the evidence shows I did not commit.”
The press conference addressed the unjust and unconstitutional decision by Justice Minister Rob Nicholson to surrender Hassan Diab to France, even though the French have not laid charges against him.
See also:
• Video of the Press Conference on April 13, 2012
• Ottawa Citizen article
• Globe and Mail article
WHAT YOU CAN DO
We call upon friends and supporters to write letters to local and national newspapers voicing opposition to unjust extradition.
Short letters (approximately 100 words) have the best chance of being published. Be sure to include your name, postal address, and daytime phone number, and write “letter to the editor” in the subject line.
Partial list of newspapers:
Please support Hassan now and prevent a travesty of justice!
Sincerest Thanks,
Hassan Diab Support Committee
Email: diabsupport@gmail.com
Last week, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson signed an order surrendering Dr. Hassan Diab to France. Nicholson’s decision was made in the face of new information that France is not prepared to put Hassan on trial, but is only seeking him for questioning.
What: Diab Press Conference
When: Friday, April 13, 2012, at 10:00 AM
Where: The Charles-Lynch Press Conference Room, Centre Block, Parliament Hill, Ottawa
Speakers:
Speakers at the press conference will address the reality that the Justice Minister is prepared to hand Canadians over to foreign states for mere questioning. They will also comment on other troubling aspects of the Minister’s decision, address problems with Canada’s Extradition Law, announce next legal steps, and respond to questions from the media.
Contact information:
diabsupport@gmail.com
On April 4, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson signed an order surrendering Dr. Hassan Diab to France, despite new information emanating from French officials stating that Dr. Diab is wanted in France for mere questioning, and that no decision has been made about whether to try Dr. Diab.
In legal submissions to the Minister, Mr. Donald Bayne, Hassan’s lawyer, noted that Canada’s Extradition Act does not allow the Justice Minister to surrender Canadian citizens to other countries for mere questioning and to languish in jail for years without trial.
Mr. Bayne also noted that the case against Dr. Diab “is anchored centrally around unsourced, uncircumstanced, …, anonymous intelligence assertions”. The Supreme Court of Canada has held that trials based on unchallengeable intelligence are contrary to principles of fundamental justice. Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations have criticized France for running unfair trials based on intelligence that cannot be tested in court.
In making his surrender decision, Minister Nicholson stated that he is interpreting Canada’s Extradition Act in a “flexible manner”. Despite noting that “under Canadian law, our courts have identified serious concerns with the admission of intelligence evidence to detain and prosecute individuals … [and] have found that the admission of such evidence would … render a trial unfair”, the Minister refused to seek assurances from France that intelligence evidence would not be used against Dr. Diab if he were to be tried in France.
In June 2011, Justice Robert Maranger of the Ontario Superior Court committed Dr. Diab for extradition. In his decision, Maranger concluded that the case against Hassan Diab was “very problematic”, “very confusing”, “very convoluted” and drew “suspect conclusions”. He noted that “the prospects of conviction in the context of a fair trial seem unlikely”, but said his interpretation of Canada’s extradition law left him no choice but to commit Dr. Diab to extradition.
During the court hearings, Maranger refused Dr. Diab the opportunity to meaningfully challenge the evidence, claiming that he would be able to do so in France. In fact, it is doubtful that Dr. Diab would be afforded this opportunity under France’s special anti-terrorism court, which allows the use of secret and unsourced intelligence, restricts the calling of defense experts, and has been criticized for numerous human rights violations. The lack of procedural safeguards is of particular concern given the highly politicized nature of the case and the current anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim climate in France.
Maranger’s ruling is currently under appeal at the Court of Appeal for Ontario. Dr. Diab’s lawyers will also file for a judicial review of Minister Nicholson’s surrender decision.
See: ‘We expected this decision, but not this way’, Ottawa Citizen, April 6, 2012
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson has delayed again his decision on whether to surrender Dr. Hassan Diab to France. The Minister is now expected to make his decision by April 18, 2012.
WRITE to or CALL Minister Nicholson and urge him NOT to surrender Hassan. Demand that Canadian standards of evidence be applied in extradition cases and that Canada protect and uphold the rights of its citizens.
(Please share a copy of your letters with diabsupport@gmail.com.)
The allegations against Dr. Diab are based on secret intelligence from unknown sources that may have been the product of torture, and on a French handwriting analysis report that internationally renowned handwriting experts have unanimously condemned as deeply flawed.
The extradition judge described the case against Hassan as “problematic” and “weak”, and declared that “the prospects of conviction in the context of a fair trial seem unlikely”, but said his interpretation of Canada’s extradition law left him no choice but to commit Hassan to extradition.
Hassan’s case highlights the unfairness of Canada’s extradition law. Canadians may be extradited to foreign countries based on the flimsiest of evidence that would not stand in a Canadian court of law. Moreover, Canada’s extradition law is one-sided; Canada extradites its citizens to France, but France does not extradite its own citizens.
Prevent a travesty of justice. Support Hassan now!
The Minister of Justice, Mr. Rob Nicholson, has delayed his decision on whether to surrender Dr. Hassan Diab for extradition to France, in light of public outcry and new material submitted by Hassan’s lawyer. The Minister is now expected to make his decision by March 28, 2012.
The delay by Minister Nicholson reflects the extraordinary flimsiness of the case against Hassan and shows there are serious doubts about the case. These same doubts led the extradition judge to label the case against Hassan as “weak” and to declare that “the prospects of conviction in the context of a fair trial seem unlikely”. Despite these serious doubts, the judge committed Hassan for extradition in June 2011. The committal decision was based on a single French handwriting report that three internationally renowned handwriting experts unanimously condemned as deeply flawed. This handwriting report was introduced after France withdrew two earlier handwriting reports that were also discredited.
We are horrified that the standards of Canada’s extradition law are so low that this pretence of a case against Dr. Diab has been allowed to drag on for so long.
WRITE to or CALL Minister Nicholson at this crucial time and urge him NOT to surrender Hassan.
WRITE to or CALL Hassan’s Member of Parliament, Mr. Paul Dewar, and ask him to contact Minister Nicholson on behalf of Hassan Diab.
(Please share a copy of your letters with diabsupport@gmail.com.)
On Friday January 20, 2012, human rights activists, friends, and supporters of Hassan Diab braved the bitter cold and gathered outside the Department of Justice to hand-deliver a petition to Justice Minister Rob Nicholson.
The petition, signed by hundreds of individuals and organizations, calls on Minister Nicholson to immediately halt extradition proceedings against Dr. Diab and to refuse to hand over Dr. Diab to France.
“I appeal to the Minister of Justice, Mr. Rob Nicholson, to put an end to the unjust case against me… I ask that Canadian standards of evidence be applied in extradition cases, and that I be given the same rights to defend myself as any other Canadian,” said Dr. Diab, who joined supporters outside the Department of Justice before the petition was delivered.
Also speaking at the rally, Matthew Behrens from Stop Canadian Involvement in Torture said, “The law says that the Minister must refuse ‘unjust and oppressive’ extraditions. And handing Hassan over to France would definitely be unjust and oppressive. Why? A Canadian judge has already stated this case would not fly in Canada! So why force Hassan to go to France over this cooked-up case? This clearly has more to do with politics than justice. The Minister must say ‘no’ to France!”
Other speakers at the rally were Roch Tassé, Coordinator of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group; Dr. Monia Mazigh, human rights advocate and wife of Maher Arar; Rev. Frances Deverell, President of the Canadian Unitarians For Social Justice; and Mike Palacek, Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
PressTV video of the event
Click here for Ottawa Citizen video of the event.
Join us for an evening of powerful dramatic readings from Hassan Diab, Emile Zola, and others who have broken the silence and spoken out about the injustices they face.
Attorney Barbara Jackman will also speak at this event and Hassan Diab will read poems he has written. This event is free and open to the public.
In 1894 Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish French soldier, was charged with treason. The accusation, based on fraudulent handwriting analysis, unleashed waves of anti-Semitism. Eminent French writer Emile Zola wrote J’Accuse to expose “the spectre of the innocent man who, far away, is suffering the most atrocious of tortures for a crime he did not commit — It is a crime to exploit patriotism for works of hate.”
Right now, exactly repeating the past, France rests its case against Hassan Diab on the basis of fraudulent handwriting analysis. In this climate of Islamophobia, France has asked the Canadian government to extradite Hassan Diab where he faces an unfair trial that could land him in jail for life.
For more information:
Visit http://www.justiceforhassandiab.org or http://www.scienceforpeace.ca/j-accuse
Email diabsupport@gmail.com