The Communist Party of Canada expresses its complete support for the call issued by the committee for Justice for Hassan Diab and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University to the Government of Canada to reject any request from the Government of France to extradite Hassan Diab.
Hassan Diab has been the victim of the French judicial system and the desire of the French Government to appear to “solve” an old terrorism case. The decision of the two French investigating judges to drop the charges and release Hassan Diab was based on the complete lack of evidence to link him to the crime. Indeed, all evidence pointed to Hassan Diab having no part in the terrorist act under investigation. His previous extradition to France resulted in years of solitary confinement in a French prison and was the result of a flawed extradition act in place at the time which did not require any evidence of guilt.
Hassan Diab was exonerated and was rehired by Carleton University based on the evidence that was presented to the trial judges in 2018. In 2023, this decision was overturned on appeal on the basis of “the belief of the judges in the guilt of the defendant” – a practice that the French justice system allows but which the European Court of Human Rights has demanded that France abandon.
Hassan Diab was wrongly extradited in 2014. He was wrongly charged with a crime he did not commit. He was wrongly imprisoned first in Canada and then in France. Two French judges with extensive expertise in terrorism charges declared there was no case against him based on the evidence presented to them. No further evidence has been forthcoming to justify a reconsideration of the case.
Canada has an obligation to protect its citizens from false prosecution by foreign governments. Canada must say NO to any request for the extradition a second time of Hassan Diab.