Documentary to shine light on Diab case

Supporters of Hassan Diab are hoping a documentary film will help shine a light on the case, highlighting the disputed evidence used to extradite the former University of Ottawa professor and urging Parliamentarians to review the extradition laws they say enabled his imprisonment in France.

Rubber Stamped: The Hassan Diab Story was directed by Amar Wala, whose 2014 debut feature film, The Secret Trial 5, explored the contentious use of security certificates to detain Canadians suspected of terror ties.

Filmmakers interviewed Diab’s partner, Rania Tfaily, who was seven months pregnant when Diab was sent to a Paris prison in November 2014, where he remains awaiting trial.

In the film, Diab’s Ottawa-based lawyer, Don Bayne, criticizes the evidence against Diab as “highly unreliable,” and presents evidence he says should “exonerate Hassan Diab as a perfectly innocent man.”

Bayne says while most countries do not accept secret intelligence as evidence in a trial, France does. “Most countries don’t do it because you can’t assess the reliability of intelligence … you don’t even know if it comes from a person or if it’s some foreign analyst’s opinion … you can claim anything.”