Letter from Dr. Randal Marlin to Mr. Rob Nicholson, the Canadian Minister of Justice

Check out the letter of support written by Dr. Randal Marlin, Academic Director of the Civil Liberties Association of the National Capital Region, to Mr. Rob Nicholson, the Canadian Minister of Justice.

http://civil-liberties.ncf.ca/nicholsondiabletter27may10.html

Garlic, Onions, and Friendship

“Oh! I think I put in too much garlic; sorry about that.”
“WHAT?! There is NO such thing as ‘too much garlic’!”

So I learned from my dear friend, Hassan Diab. No longer do I need to apologize for enjoying extremely garlicy hummus, breads, salad dressings, food in general. YES!

My introduction to the delightful personality and gentle wisdom of Hassan came about by sheer circumstance; a mutual friend, who lives half-an-hour from Brandon, invited me to an evening BBQ and chatting around a big bonfire under the starlit skies of Manitoba’s prairies. I had no transportation and had to decline. My friend had another plan; he told me a friend of his was driving out from the city and he would set-up the ride. And that is how I met Hassan Diab and when our friendship began.

We are similar in our love of cooking and food. I am now onions and garlic when I cook, thanks to the introduction of wonderful Lebanese cuisine to my dietary mainstays. My refrigerator is never without tahini and garlic!

I cannot tell you what year I met Hassan; well, I could if I went back through calendars. Once we met it was as if old friends had reconnected. I have two budgies, affectionately known as “The Kids.” I talk to The Kids. Hassan? Hassan spoke to them and they came and responded in song. Me? I get squawks about the lack of treats. Hassan got conversation!

When Hassan was once applying for a job, he was required to obtain a Criminal Records Check. I was there, the record was clean. I witnessed the paperwork and signed "YES, I verify that Hassan Diab is a law abiding citizen and witness this Criminal Records Check." I value my integrity and had I ANY doubts in regards to Hassan's character or past actions, I would NEVER have put my name to a legal document. I had, and continue to have, no qualms or hesitation whatsoever certifying that Hassan Diab is free of criminal conduct. He is a peaceful, thoughtful man and it does not exist within his character to resort to violence for any reason or purpose.

I remember mentioning Hassan while talking to friends over coffee. They expressed a definitive confirmation of his positive effect on the student population of Brandon University’s Sociology Department. They missed him before he moved on, and they still fondly remember him and his joyful spirit.

I found strength and kind assistance from Hassan as I struggled through difficult times. I had an abusive childhood and suffer from Severe-Complex Delayed-Onset Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. I’ve had many occasions upon which the quiet and steady counsel of Hassan has brought me around to remember it was not my fault and I didn’t need to keep secret the abuse I suffered at the hands of my mother, nor did I have to let it define or constrain my dreams and aspirations. I could, with his positive encouragement, continue to manage the symptomology and begin to define who I am on my terms, not the false identity created by my childhood. He saw who I was before I did. That faith in my abilities and possibilities continues to this day and that is a gift I can, and will, always treasure.

It may be due to my childhood that everything I viewed was black or white, right or wrong, yes or no. Hassan demonstrated a calm reasoning in our discussions that showed me the nuance of each argument and that no story has two sides like a coin. Hassan’s calm, quiet, and generous demeanor has taught me to be less reactive, less combative, and to assess and think about situations and repercussions; unlike my previous black or white, right or wrong, yes or no worldview. This has been a major facture in the improvement of my overall health; Hassan has taught me that I am likeable, loveable, and a good person.

Because Hassan Diab is a kind, generous, calm, and moderating presence in my life, I live a better quality of life than prior to our meeting. As I said, I cannot tell you the date or year that I met Hassan. I can tell you what life was like before I met Hassan. I can tell you what life is like since I met Hassan. It has been wonderful and improving due to his friendship and guidance. I want others to experience the positive personality of Hassan Diab and take away from it something that will benefit them and those around them, just as had occurred for me.

I am deeply troubled that Hassan’s life and livelihood are being ruined by false, unfounded allegations. How long must we bear the sight of an innocent fellow citizen at the mercy of unsourced intelligence masquerading as evidence? There is no justification for the ills that have befallen Hassan, and nothing can ever fully compensate for the part of his life that has been stolen away, and for the loss of his good name and reputation.

Mary Jo Welch, B.Sc.
Brandon University
Brandon, Manitoba

Dawg's Blawg: Hassan Diab – Canada’s Dreyfus?

Check out what Dr. Dawg is saying about the case of Dr. Hassan Diab.

http://drdawgsblawg.blogspot.com/2010/05/hassan-diab-canadas-dreyfus.html

Campagne contre la "justice Kafkaesque"

[Click here for English version.]

Solidarité avec Hassan Diab
http://www.justiceforhassandiab.org

Le Comité de Soutien à Hassan Diab lance une campagne de lettres aux députés canadiens visant à protester contre l’usage par le gouvernement de renseignements secrets et sans source [lire: d’innombrables couches de ouï-dires non-prouvées] comme preuves devant les tribunaux canadiens.

Dans un cas qui rappelle la tristement célèbre affaire Dreyfus, le Dr. Hassan Diab pourrait être extradé à cause de renseignements de fiabilité inconnue et impossible à tester, et d’une analyse de l’écriture fondamentalement erronée.

En utilisant des renseignements comme preuves, le gouvernement facilite l’extradition "légale" de citoyens canadiens vers des pays étrangers sur la base de renseignements secrets et sans sources qui ne peuvent être testés ou contestés en cour, et qui peuvent être le produit de la torture ou de traitements cruels, inhumains ou dégradants.

Le cas du Dr. Diab est le premier cas dans l’histoire du Canada dans lequel le gouvernement se base sur des renseignements secrets et sans source pour extrader un citoyen canadien.

Si nous laissons passer ce cas-ci, d’autres suivront.

Cette décision sans précédent d’utiliser des renseignements secrets et sans source comme preuve dans le cas d’un citoyen canadien est inquiétante, surtout dans le contexte de la "guerre au terrorisme". Elle renforce un peu plus la légalisation de situations semblables à Guantanamo au Canada.

Nous avons besoin de votre aide!

Comment vous impliquer dans cette campagne importante:

ÉCRIVEZ À VOTRE DÉPUTÉ FEDERAL – Ci-dessous, vous trouverez une lettre que le Comité de Soutien à Hassan Diab a envoyée aux députés plus tôt ce mois-ci. Vous pouvez utiliser notre lettre ou encore écrire la vôtre. SVP considérez de souligner les injustices dans le cas du Dr. Diab et l’inégalité inhérente à l’usage de renseignements secrets et sans source pour priver une personne de sa liberté. Si vous ne savez pas qui est votre député, vous pouvez le trouver avec votre code postal ici: http://www.elections.ca/accueil.asp. Nous apprécierons que vous nous informiez quand vous aurez envoyé une lettre, pour que nous puissions savoir combien de lettre ont été écrites: diabsupport@gmail.com.

FAITES UN DON – Le Comité de Soutien à Hassan Diab a lancé une campagne de levée de fonds pour couvrir les frais légaux ainsi que les coûts pour faire témoigner des experts durant les audiences d’extradition en juin 2010. Durant ces audiences, des experts vont témoigner au sujet de failles fondamentales dans le cas contre le Dr. Diab et de l’impossibilité de se fier à l’usage de renseignements sans source comme preuves. Les frais légaux pour les audiences et le coût des experts sont de plus de 150 000$. Hassan a dépensé toutes ses économies personnelles et n’a pas été en mesure de se trouver un travail suite à son renvoi injuste de l’Université Carleton. Nous serons extrêmement reconnaissants pour tout soutien financier que vous pourriez offrir. Un don de n’importe quel montant serait immensément utile.

Pour faire un don au fond de défense légal de Hassan, SVP visitez: http://www.justiceforhassandiab.org/donate, ou envoyez un chèque directement à l’adresse suivante:

Bayne Sellar Boxall
Attention: Diab legal defence fund
Suite 500, 200 Elgin Street
Ottawa, Ontario K2P 1L5 Canada
(SVP faire le cheque au nom de "Bayne Sellar Boxall")

Finalement, SVP considérez d’envoyer cet appel à des supporters de la justice sociale.

Merci,

Comité de Soutien à Hassan Diab
diabsupport@gmail.com
http://www.justiceforhassandiab.org

Cher député, chère députée,

Nous vous écrivons au sujet du Dr. Hassan Diab, un citoyen canadien qui vit à Ottawa, Canada. Le Dr. Diab est dans une situation kafkaesque depuis le mois de novembre 2008, quand il a été accusé par un juge d'instruction français (sur la base de renseignements secrets et sans source) d’implication dans une attaque près d’une synagogue de Paris en 1980. Dans un cas qui rappelle "Le Procès" de Kafka, ni le Dr. Diab ni son avocat, ni les juges canadien et français ne connaissent la source ni la fiabilité des renseignements secrets et sans source qui relieraient soi-disant le Dr. Diab à l’attaque.

Les audiences d’extradition du Dr. Diab étaient prévues en janvier 2010, mais elles ont été ajournées à la demande de la Couronne qui révise les preuves de la défense qui montrent l’impossibilité manifeste de se fier à des renseignements sans source et à l’analyse de l’écriture. Entre temps, le Dr. Diab continue de vivre sous des conditions de remise en liberté très strictes, doit payer 1 500$ par mois pour le GPS, et est incapable de trouver du travail suite à son congédiement injuste de l’Université Carleton.

Ironiquement, plus de cent ans après l’affaire Dreyfus, le Dr. Diab se retrouve dans une situation analogue dans laquelle des renseignements secrets et sans source, et une analyse de l’écriture erronée sur laquelle on ne peut manifestement pas se fier sont au cœur du cas de la poursuite. Alfred Dreyfus a été faussement accusé et reconnu coupable sur la base d’une analyse de l’écriture erronée et de renseignements secrets qui ne lui ont jamais été révélés ni à son avocat pour des motifs de sécurité nationale. Dans le cas du Dr. Diab, le Ministre de la Justice en tant que Procureur général du Canada se base (pour la première fois dans l’histoire du Canada) sur des renseignements sans source et secrets d’une fiabilité inconnue et impossible à tester pour extrader un citoyen canadien. Ceci malgré qu’il a été prouvé par la défense que les enquêteurs français ont façonné leurs renseignements (souvent de manière contradictoire) pour qu’ils appuient leur "théorie".

Dans l’affaire Dreyfus, les "experts" en analyse de l’écriture ont attribué les différences entre l’écriture de Dreyfus et celle sur les documents qui lui sont attribués à sa capacité à manipuler son écriture. De la même manière, les "experts" français dans le cas du Dr. Diab attribuent les différences entre les documents de comparaison et les documents qui lui sont attribués à la capacité du Dr. Diab à changer son style d’écriture. Ce qui est encore plus choquant dans le cas du Dr. Diab est qu’il a été prouvé que les spécimens qui lui sont attribués et qui sont utilisés par les deux analystes français de l’écriture ont été écrits par quelqu’un d’autre. Quatre des meilleurs experts de l’écriture au monde ont jugé que l’analyse de l’écriture dans le cas du Dr. Diab était fondamentalement erronée et que les analystes français n’ont pas respecté les standards professionnels reconnus, ont commis de graves erreurs et ont manqué d’objectivité.

L’extradition d’un citoyen canadien fondée sur des renseignements sans source et de fiabilité inconnue et impossible à tester serait un précédent légal choquant et dangereux. Les principes du droit canadien ne devraient pas être compromis par l’indifférence apparente d’un autre pays pour les problèmes légales et au niveau des droits humains qui surviennent quand on utilise des renseignements comme des preuves dans un procès criminel. Nous faisons appel à vous pour nous aider à mettre fin à de telles pratiques anti-démocratiques, injustes et inéquitables en demandant au Ministre de la Justice d’abandonner son utilisation de renseignements secrets et sans source dans les cas d’extradition.

Finalement, nous vous demandons de garder un œil ouvert pour le cas du Dr. Diab, qui pose une menace profondément troublante sur la Charte Canadienne des Droits et Libertés telle qu’elle s’applique à tous les Canadiens.

Pour plus d’informations sur le cas du Dr. Diab, veuillez voir: http://www.justiceforhassandiab.org.

Pour plus d’informations, SVP n’hésitez pas à entrer en contact avec le Comité de soutien au Hassan Diab: diabsupport@gmail.com.

Sincèrement,

< nom >
< addresse >

Campaign Against "Kafkaesque Justice”

[Cliquez ici pour la version française.]

We are writing to inform you about the campaign against "Kafkaesque justice” in Canada.

The Hassan Diab Support Committee is launching a letter-writing campaign to Canadian Members of Parliament, protesting the government’s use of secret, unsourced intelligence [read: countless layers of unsubstantiated hearsay] as evidence in Canadian courts.

In a case reminiscent of the infamous Dreyfus affair, Dr. Hassan Diab may be extradited based on intelligence information of unknown, untestable reliability and fundamentally flawed handwriting analysis.

By using intelligence as evidence, the government is facilitating the “legal” extradition of Canadian citizens to foreign countries based on secret, unsourced intelligence that cannot be tested or challenged in court, and that may be the product of torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.

Dr. Diab's case is the first case in Canadian history in which the government is relying on secret and unsourced intelligence to extradite a Canadian citizen. If allowed to pass, other cases could follow.

This unprecedented decision to use secret and unsourced intelligence as evidence in cases concerning Canadian citizens is chilling, particularly in the context of the “war on terror”. It establishes the further legalization of Guantanamo-like situations in Canada

We need your help! Scroll down for information on how to get involved in this important campaign.

http://www.justiceforhassandiab.org

WRITE TO YOUR MP - Below is a letter that the Hassan Diab Support Committee has sent to Members of Parliament earlier this month. Feel free to use our letter or write your own. Please consider highlighting the injustices in Dr. Diab’s case and the unfairness inherent in using secret, unsourced “intelligence” to deprive a person of his/her liberty. If you do not know who your MP is, you can search by postal code at http://www.elections.ca. We would appreciate it if you'd let us know when you've sent a letter, as we'd like to keep track of how many letters have been written.

MAKE A DONATION - The Hassan Diab Support Committee is engaged in a fundraising campaign to cover the legal fees as well as the costs of bringing experts to the June 2010 extradition hearing. At the hearing, top experts will testify about the fundamental flaws in the case against Dr. Diab, and the manifest unreliability of using unsourced intelligence as evidence. The legal fees for the hearing and the costs of retaining the experts are well above $150,000.

Hassan has exhausted his personal savings, and has not been able to find work following his unfair dismissal from Carleton University. We are extremely grateful for any financial support you can provide. A donation of any amount would be immensely helpful.

To donate to Hassan's legal defence fund, please visit: http://www.justiceforhassandiab.org/donate, or send a check directly to Hassan's legal defence at the following address:

Bayne Sellar Boxall
Attention: Diab legal defence fund
Suite 500, 200 Elgin Street
Ottawa, Ontario K2P 1L5
Canada
(Please make check payable to: "Bayne Sellar Boxall")

Finally, please consider forwarding this appeal to supporters of social justice.

Thank you,

Hassan Diab Support Committee
diabsupport@gmail.com
http://www.justiceforhassandiab.org

Dear <Member of Parliament>,

We are writing to you on behalf of Dr. Hassan Diab, a Canadian citizen who lives in Ottawa, Canada. Dr. Diab has been in a Kafkaesque situation since November 2008, when he was accused by a French examining magistrate – based on secret and unsourced intelligence – of involvement in an attack near a Paris synagogue in 1980. In a case reminiscent of Kafka’s “The Trial”, neither Dr. Diab or his lawyer, nor the Canadian Judge or the French judge, knows the source or the reliability of the secret and unsourced intelligence that allegedly links Dr. Diab to the attack.

Dr. Diab’s extradition hearing was scheduled to begin in January 2010, but it has been adjourned at the request of the Crown Attorney who is reviewing defense evidence that shows the manifest unreliability of the unsourced intelligence and the handwriting analysis in Dr. Diab’s case. In the meantime, Dr. Diab continues to live under very strict bail conditions, is required to pay $1,500 per month for a GPS monitoring device, and is unable to find work following his unjust dismissal from Carleton University.

Ironically, more than a century after the Dreyfus affair, Dr. Diab finds himself in an analogous situation in which secret unsourced intelligence and manifestly unreliable handwriting analysis are at the core of the prosecution’s case. Alfred Dreyfus was falsely accused and convicted based on handwriting analysis and secret information that was not disclosed to him or his counsel on national security grounds. In Dr. Diab’s case, the Minister of Justice in his capacity as Attorney General of Canada is relying – for the first time in Canadian history – on unsourced and secret intelligence of unknown and untestable reliability to extradite a Canadian citizen. This is despite evidence put forward by the defense that shows that the French investigators tailored their intelligence – often in contradictory ways – to make it fit their “theory”.

In Dreyfus’ case, the handwriting “experts” attributed differences between Dreyfus’ handwriting and the questioned document to his ability to manipulate his handwriting. Similarly, the French handwriting “experts” in Dr. Diab’s case attribute differences between the comparison documents and the questioned document to Dr. Diab’s ability to change his writing style. Even more shocking in Dr. Diab’s case is the fact that comparison specimens attributed to him and used by the two French handwriting analysts are now proven to have been written by someone else. Four of the world’s top handwriting experts assert that the handwriting analysis in Dr. Diab’s case is fundamentally flawed, and that the French analysts failed to adhere to widely recognized professional standards, committed grave errors, and lacked objectivity.

Extradition of a Canadian citizen based on unsourced intelligence of unknown and untestable reliability would establish a shocking and dangerous legal precedent. Canada’s legal principles should not become compromised by another country’s apparent indifference to legal and human rights quandaries arising from treating intelligence as evidence in criminal cases. We urge you to help end such undemocratic, unjust, and unfair practices by demanding that the Minister of Justice abandon his reliance on secret and unsourced intelligence in extradition cases.

Finally, we ask you to keep a vigilant eye on Dr. Diab’s case, which poses a deeply troubling threat to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as it applies to all Canadians.

To know more about Dr. Diab’s case, please visit http://www.justiceforhassandiab.org. Please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Diab’s support committee at diabsupport@gmail.com for further information.

Yours Sincerely,

<Name>
<Address>

Letter from Dr. Monia Mazigh to Mr. Rob Nicholson, the Canadian Minister of Justice

Ottawa, April, 26 2010

The Honourable Rob Nicholson
Minister of Justice
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Dear Mr. Nicholson,

I am writing you regarding the case of Dr. Hassan Diab who is fighting extradition to France. I have been following his case through media reports and as many other citizens I am very concerned by the perspectives of sending Canadian citizens to foreign countries based on secret and unsourced intelligence that may be the product of torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, and which cannot be tested or challenged in court.

As a wife of a man who was deported on the basis of distorted and false intelligence, I can sympathize with the case of Dr. Diab and deeply understand the worries of his wife, friends and supporters.

Eight years ago my husband Maher Arar was sent to Syria where he was physically and mentally tortured. He came back a totally different man suffering from post traumatic stress and still enduring the everyday consequences of his abuse. His ordeal began when safeguards were not respected in the exchange of intelligence. Distorted, incomplete and biased intelligence can take the life of one individual in another direction, and destroy it.

The world has totally changed since 9/11. While we need more security and more vigilance, also we need to be more careful when it comes to human rights. Security cannot be obtained at the expense of fundamental human rights such as personal liberty and the presumption of innocence. We do not want security for the sake of security; we need more security with a better justice.

In my opinion, the definition of “national security” should be reexamined after so many innocent lives were destroyed by security agencies in the wake of 9/11. It is always necessary to remember and avoid repeating the many cases where intelligence - first presented as clear evidence to prosecute a suspect - turned out to be unreliable. In some cases, the “intelligence” was the product of torture. In others, the nature and source of the “intelligence” was unknown and could not be adequately tested or challenged. It is offensive to democratic values to imprison a person on the basis of such unreliable and untested information.

Dr. Hassan Diab should be able to challenge all the allegations against him in a clear, transparent and unambiguous way. Dr. Diab deserves justice as any other Canadian.

Sincerely,

Dr. Monia Mazigh
Ottawa, Ontario

Cc: Hon. John Baird, MP, Ottawa-West Nepean
Cc: Paul Dewar, MP, Ottawa Centre