Many people gathered at the Steel Workers Hall in Toronto to hear a startling presentation made by Rania Tfaily, sociology professor at Carleton University, about the case of her husband Hassan Diab, also a sociology professor at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa, being arrested in 2008 in response to a request by France.
French authorities believed he was responsible for a bombing against a synagogue in Paris in 1980. After spending over four months in detention, Hassan was freed on $250,000 bail but now lives under house arrest.
The French government believes Diab was the author of registration cards signed by the terrorist suspects who stayed at a hotel in Paris during that time.
The hearing for Hassan Diab, scheduled to start in June 2010, was delayed after receiving submissions by 2 handwriting experts who said the handwriting analysis was unreliable. The court wanted to introduce evidence from a 3rd French hand writing expert who found a very strong presumption that Diab was the author. It’s a plan the Defense Council called “absolutely scandalous.
Tfaily and many of her supporters are bedazzled by what they feel is the weak evidence with which the French government wants to extradite Diab. They see this as a gross violation of human rights against Canadian citizens.
Under the Canadian extradtion law, Canada has to abide by the wishes of the French government to draw upon new testimony from a handwriting expert who does believe Diab was the author.
But for many supporters of Diab in Canada and abroad, the real reason for his extradition has nothing to do with the evidence being presented in court.
The fingerprint and palm print evidence the French government attained from Diab, which it intended to match to those of the alleged bomber, has not been presented to Judge Maranger. Supporters say that’s because there was no match. Closing arguments were made in March. The Judge’s decision on whether to extradite Hassan will be announced in June, 2011.
