Please take the time to send a brief letter to the Editor in support of Hassan Diab.On Wednesday May 25, Hassan Diab's lawyer asked the extradition judge to take into account a recent ruling by the Ontario Court of appeal, and allow the introduction of additional handwriting reports to demonstrate (once again!) the total unreliability of France's handwriting evidence. Several French handwriting experts are willing to testify that the methodology and conclusions of the handwriting evidence are totally flawed.
Read Ottawa Citizen coverage of Wednesday's hearing.
This morning, the judge denied the lawyer’s request. A decision on whether to "commit" Hassan for extradition (basically, the first step in shipping Hassan overseas, which involves imprisonment) will be issued on June 6th.
Read Ottawa Citizen coverage of today’s decision
Please write letters to the Editor expressing your concern about the extradition process and your support for Hassan Diab.
In your letters, you can raise one or more of the following points:
- As Hassan's case shows, the standard of evidence for extraditing Canadian citizens does not come near to meeting standards for a fair trial.
- It is very alarming that Hassan's extradition may be allowed to proceed SOLELY on the basis of handwriting analysis that the judge himself has said is “very problematic, very confusing, and with conclusions that are suspect".
It is unacceptable that France based its original extradition request on completely unsourced and secret intelligence that may be the product of torture. - It is unacceptable that France has withheld information favourable to Hassan from the judge, such as the fact that Hassan’s palm prints and fingerprints do not match those of the suspect.
- Letters must be very short (100 words or less); include name, postal address and daytime phone number of the writer; state "Letter to the Editor" in the Subject line; and content should be in the body of the email (i.e. do not send as an attachment).
Email addresses are provided below:
Globe and Mail: letters@globeandmail.com
National Post: letters@nationalpost.com
Ottawa Citizen: letters@thecitizen.canwest.com
Ottawa Sun: ottsun.oped@sunmedia.ca
Hill Times (Federal Parliament): news@hilltimes.com
Thanks for your continued support.
Hassan Diab Support Committee
http://www.justiceforhassandiab.org
diabsupport@gmail.com
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