Bulletin: Hassan Diab: Ottawa: A French appeal court has ordered him back to jail pending trial..."French authorities have so far presented little concrete evidence against Diab other than unsourced intelligence reports that Canadian federal prosecutors representing France were forced to withdraw because they couldn’t prove they were not gleaned from torture. That leaves French handwriting analysis comparing Diab’s handwriting with words on a hotel register written by one of the alleged perpetrators. Three internationally renowned experts called by Bayne to testify at the extradition hearing unanimously dismissed the analysis as incompetent. Maranger (Judge who made the extradition order HL) characterized the handwriting analysis as “convoluted, very confusing with conclusions that are suspect” and doubted it would be enough to convict in a Canadian criminal court. Despite those reservations, he said Canadian extradition law left him no choice. Both the handwriting evidence and the intelligence reports will apparently be part of the prosecution case when, and if, the case goes to trial." Reporter Chris Cobb; Ottawa Citizen;

 

"Former Ottawa academic Hassan Diab is back in a Paris jail barely a week after he was released on bail. French prosecutors had filed an appeal on Saturday, after terrorist suspect Diab was released on May 17, alleging he was a flight risk and a threat to civil order.  His defence team had hoped that the appeal judges would accept Diab’s presence at Tuesday afternoon’s appeal hearing, and the lack of public interest in his release, would be a successful counter to the prosecution grounds for keeping the 62-year-old Canadian citizen in jail. Diab’s Canadian lawyer Don Bayne called the decision “tragic.  “It’s an extension of an ongoing tragic miscarriage of justice and a wrongful conviction in the making,” Bayne said. “He shouldn’t have been extradited by Canada, and look at what’s happened to him and his family. Eighteen months in custody, then out, then in custody, and still no trial and no mention of a trial.” Diab’s wife Rania Tfaily said she was “crushed” by the decision. “Hassan fully abided by his bail conditions for several years in Canada,” she said. “In fact, a journalist informed Hassan that he was under investigation more than a year before France submitted a request for his extradition. Hassan could have legally travelled anywhere during that period.” Diab’s Paris lawyer, William Bourdon, said the defence would appeal Tuesday’s decision to the French Supreme Court  Diab is accused of murder and attempted murder for his alleged involvement in an October 1980 Paris terrorist bomb attack. The blast, allegedly carried out by an arm of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, killed four passersby and injured more than 40 inside and outside the synagogue. The former Carleton and University of Ottawa sociology lecturer denies any involvement, denies he was in Paris at the time and says he is an innocent victim of mistaken identity. A legal roller coaster has surrounded Diab’s release, with the investigating magistrate overseeing the case ruling that the academic is neither a flight risk nor a threat to French public order... French authorities have so far presented little concrete evidence against Diab other than unsourced intelligence reports that Canadian federal prosecutors representing France were forced to withdraw because they couldn’t prove they were not gleaned from torture. That leaves French handwriting analysis comparing Diab’s handwriting with words on a hotel register written by one of the alleged perpetrators. Three internationally renowned experts called by Bayne to testify at the extradition hearing unanimously dismissed the analysis as incompetent. Maranger (Judge who made the extradition order HL)  characterized the handwriting analysis as “convoluted, very confusing with conclusions that are suspect” and doubted it would be enough to convict in a Canadian criminal court. Despite those reservations, he said Canadian extradition law left him no choice. Both the handwriting evidence and the intelligence reports will apparently be part of the prosecution case when, and if, the case goes to trial."

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/french-appeal-court-orders-diab-back-to-jail-pending-trial