Unsurprisingly, Hassan Diab has been ordered deported by Justice Minister Rob Nicholson. He’s the Carleton University sociology professor accused by a crusading French magistrate of involvement in a horrific synagogue bombing in Paris in 1980.
I’ve blogged about this on-going travesty of justice here and here and here and here and here.
Exculpatory evidence was not included in the Record of Case sent by the French to Canada. A French handwriting “analyst” was resoundingly refuted by internationally-renowned experts who have actually worked for years in the field. Even the judge who ordered him extradited—the bar for extradition is set ridiculously in Ontario—stated that the case against him was likely too weak to convict him if he were tried here.
But in France Diab faces a kangaroo court where the defence is not even permitted to call expert witnesses. In another wrinkle, France does not allow its own nationals to be deported to Canada.
Canadians with Arabic-sounding names don’t do so well under the Harper government. Over once again, therefore, to the courts—which still have a mind of their own.