PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This is great news. Diab's lawyers had torn to shreds the so-called forensic evidence of a French handwriting 'expert' on a crucial piece of evidence. Canada should have stuck up for him. As this Bog's many posts on the Diab matter made clear, these flaws were recognized by the Judge who conducted the extradition hearing. But the Canadian government - to its shame - deported him anyway. The Trudeau government can start to make amends by pressuring the French government to drop the threat of appeal and allow his immediate return to Canada.
Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
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PHOTO CAPTION: "Former Ottawa university professor Hassan Diab is to be a free man for the first time in a decade after two investigating judges dismissed terrorism allegations against him, effectively closing the case."
GIST: "Hassan Diab walked out of a Paris prison a free man Friday and into more uncertainty. The
64-year-old Ottawa academic was released from a Paris maximum security
prison after anti-terrorism judges ruled that there was insufficient
evidence to send him to trial. It is a precedent-setting decision
that could, finally, mark the conclusion of Diab’s decade-long legal
battle, one that has been fought against a backdrop of history, Western
anxiety over terrorism and a fractious debate over due process. At
its centre: Diab, who was indicted on murder, attempted murder and
other charges related to an October 1980 bomb attack outside a Paris
synagogue that killed four passers-by and injured dozens more. The bomb
was planted in the saddle bag of a motor cycle parked outside the
synagogue. The case has cast a spotlight on Canadian extradition
law and the burden of proof required to send a citizen to face justice
in another nation, and, on Friday, Trudeau hinted that his government is
open reviewing that law. Diab
has consistently denied involvement and said he was studying in Lebanon
at the time of bombing. The investigating judges say have evidence that
supports Diab’s claim of innocence. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau welcomed the judges’ decision. “We’ve
been directly active on many, many consular cases with positive
results,” he told reporters Friday in London, Ont. “Certainly this case
is no different. We are pleased, obviously, that the French judicial
system came to the conclusion that it did.” As for Canada’s
controversial extradition law, which has come under constant criticism
for being weak and inconsistent with the high standards of Canada’s
criminal law, “We will be reflecting on lessons learned in the coming
weeks and months,” Trudeau said. Diab’s Ottawa lawyer Don Bayne described the judges’ decision as “momentous.” “This is an order of final release,” he said. “There is no case against this man. It is over.” But Diab is still not totally free, conceded Bayne. “He can’t just go to the airport, buy a ticket and come home,” he said. Prosecutors
immediately appealed Diab’s release Friday and lawyers representing
victims of the bombing are expected to do the same. Prosecutors have admitted to flaws in the case but had petitioned the anti-terrorism judges to commit Diab to trial. Although
free until higher courts rule on the appeals, it seems unlikely that
Diab will be able to return to Canada, without official permission,
until the appeal process has been exhausted. It is also likely that he is on a no-fly list and that alone could prove a significant obstacle to overcome. While
ecstatic over Friday’s decision, the case has set so many legal
precedents in France that Diab’s French lawyers are refusing to predict
what might happen next. Lead lawyer William Bourdon has said that
Diab is a prisoner of the current anti-terrorism climate in France and
prosecutors are persisting in the case because they fear being branded
as soft on terrorism. The academic was extradited in November 2014
at the request of France after a six-year legal battle to stay in
Canada. He was flown to Paris within hours of the Supreme Court of
Canada dashing his final hope by refusing to hear the case. The Lebanon-born Canadian citizen spent more than three years in pre-trial detention awaiting Friday’s decision. During
his incarceration in France, eight judicial decisions ordering his
release on bail were successfully appealed by prosecutors. Anti-terrorism
Judge Jean-Marc Herbaut, one of the investigative judges who dismissed
the case against Diab on Friday, had previously ordered the academic’s
release on bail, saying evidence he had gathered in Lebanon indicated
that Diab was telling the truth and was not in Paris at the time of the
bombing. Diab’s French lawyers said in a statement Friday that
they respect the victims’ quest for justice, but the judges’ decision
demonstrates the “impossibility to attribute to Hassan Diab any
responsibility in the attack.” They had asked prosecutors to respect the judges’ ruling and not appeal. After
his 2008 arrest, Diab was jailed for several months at the
Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre before being released on conditions
that amounted to strict house arrest. He was ordered to wear – and pay
for – a $2,000 a month monitoring device on his ankle. In his 2011
ruling, Diab’s extradition judge Robert Maranger said it was unlikely
that the evidence against Diab would have resulted in a conviction in a
Canadian criminal court but the low threshold required by the
extradition law gave him no choice but to recommend that the academic be
turned over to France. Diab’s lawyer Bayne has been especially
critical of the law which he says has been abused in the Diab case and
has left Canadian citizens vulnerable. “It is a law and process that needs to be re-examined,” he said."
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/c
