Canadian citizen deserves justice

Recently I participated, with others, in a 24 hour fast to call for justice for Dr. Hassan Diab. He is a Canadian citizen, a father of two young Canadian children, and a former professor at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University. In 2014, he was extradited by the Conservative government to France where he is accused of committing a terrorist act in 1980 which killed four people.

Dr. Diab’s fingerprint, palm print, physical description and handwriting do not match those of the French suspect who has been sought in the bombing. Two French judges have determined that Dr. Diab was in Lebanon at the time of the bombing. Six times, investigative judges have ordered that he be released from the jail where he is being held, alone in a small cell, 22 hours a day.

Each time, the Court of Appeal has overturned the ruling at the behest of the prosecutor.

Roger Clark, former head of Amnesty Canada, believes that this situation continues because “of widespread Islamophobia and a fear of appearing weak on terrorism.”

In the past, Prime Minister Trudeau called on the Conservative government to use the power of the office of the Prime Minister to intervene when Canadian citizens were being held unjustly abroad.

It is time for him to do the same and demand justice for Hassan Diab.

Mary Cowper-Smith, Charlottetown