On October 29, 2011, Beit Zatoun House in Toronto hosted an evening of powerful dramatic readings from Hassan Diab, Emile Zola, and others who have broken the silence and spoken out about the injustices they face.In 1894, Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish French soldier, was charged with treason. The accusation, based on fraudulent handwriting analysis, unleashed waves of anti-Semitism. Eminent French writer Emile Zola wrote J’Accuse to expose “the spectre of the innocent man who, far away, is suffering the most atrocious of tortures for a crime he did not commit — It is a crime to exploit patriotism for works of hate.”
Right now, exactly repeating the past, the case against Hassan Diab rests on flawed and discredited handwriting analysis. In this climate of Islamophobia, France has asked the Canadian government to comply and extradite Hassan Diab to France where he faces an unfair trial under France’s anti-terrorism laws that could land him in jail for life.
Watch a YouTube video of the October 29 J’Accuse event at:
http://youtu.be/Renq0hk3fUE
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