Welcome to Hassan Diab's prison diary

This blog features excerpts from Dr. Hassan Diab's letters from prison to his family in Canada.

Dr. Diab is a Canadian citizen and sociology professor who was extradited to France on November 14, 2014. He is incarcerated at a prison near Paris, where he may remain for two or more years while a French investigating magistrate decides whether to bring him to trial.

Dr. Diab has always asserted his innocence. He was not in France at the time of the 1980 rue Copernic bombing. He is not an anti-Semite, and he strongly condemns all forms of bigotry and violence. Family, friends, and colleagues attest to his humanistic and peaceful character. His palm prints and fingerprints do not match those of the suspect.

Dr. Diab was extradited based solely on a handwriting analysis report submitted by France that compared Dr. Diab’s handwriting to five words written by the suspect on a hotel registration card in 1980. Five leading international handwriting experts testified that the handwriting analysis report is flawed, unreliable, and biased, and that an objective analysis points to Dr. Diab’s innocence. The Canadian extradition judge described the evidence as “very problematic”, “convoluted”, “very confusing” and “with conclusions that are suspect”. He further noted that the case against Dr. Diab is “weak” and “the prospects of conviction in the context of a fair trial seem unlikely”. Despite this, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear Dr. Diab’s appeal and he was torn away from his home and family in Canada.

The case against Dr. Diab is anchored in intelligence from unknown sources. Even the French investigating magistrate does not know the source of this intelligence or how it was obtained. Reliance on such intelligence is deeply troubling because there is no way to challenge it or know the circumstances under which it was obtained. There is a real risk that the intelligence may be the product of torture.

In prison, Dr. Diab is confined to his cell for 20 hours a day. In the four hours a day when he is allowed to leave his cell, he may interact with other inmates and access a small library and a caged exercise area. The hardest part for Hassan is being separated from his family in Canada. He communicates with his family through letters and phone calls. He is not allowed to receive phone calls, and can only make calls to approved phone numbers.

The discredited handwriting analysis and unsourced intelligence remain in the dossier in France. There is a real risk that Dr. Diab may be wrongfully convicted. Hassan must be allowed to return to his home in Canada. Making an innocent man pay for a crime he did not commit will only further the tragedy.

To learn more about Dr. Hassan Diab's case, please visit: http://www.justiceforhassandiab.org