Hassan Diab’s lawyer warns ‘political trial’ in France could lead to wrongful conviction

Lawyers for Hassan Diab say they are concerned that the Ottawa academic’s trial over the 40-year-old terror attack could lead to a wrongful conviction — and possibly a second extradition request from France.

More than five years after he was acquitted for lack of evidence, Diab was tried in absentia in France on Monday over a bombing outside a Paris synagogue 40 years ago.

“This is a political trial,” Donald Bayne, Diab’s Canadian lawyer, told host David Cochrane on the CBC News Network. Power & Politics on Tuesday.

“The court that ordered the trial to continue said the victims deserve a trial. What they don’t deserve is scapegoating or a miscarriage of justice.”

Ottawa university lecturer, now 69, accused by the authorities of involvement in the 1980 Rue Copernic bombing, which killed four people and injured more than 40. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Diab’s release has been opposed by more than 20 civil society groups in France – including victims of terrorism groups and pro-Israel organizations.

“He and his family are very concerned that there will be a wrongful conviction because of the campaign to find whoever — whoever — is responsible for this 1980 bombing,” Bayne said.

RCMP arrested Diab in November 2008. He was placed under strict bail conditions until he was extradited to France in 2014. He spent more than three years in prison in France before the case against him collapsed.

The main physical evidence Canada relied on to extradite Diab to France was handwriting analysis that linked Diab’s handwriting to that of the suspected bomber. Canadian government lawyers acting on behalf of France were called the “smoking gun” in the extradition hearing.

But in 2009, Diab’s legal team produced conflicting reports from four international handwriting experts. The experts questioned the methods and conclusions of the French experts. He also proved that some of the handwriting samples used by the French analysts were not Diab’s but his ex-husband’s.

Bayne said the conviction could lead to a second extradition order.

A verdict is expected later this month

A French investigating judge dismissed the handwriting evidence as unreliable when ordering Diab’s release in January 2018.

He also discovers he has an alibi for the day of the Paris bombings. Using university records and interviews with Diab’s classmates, the investigating judge determined he was “probably in Lebanon” during a written exam when the bomb outside happened.

In 2018, CBC News confirmed that France knew about — and failed to disclose — fingerprint evidence that ultimately played a critical role in Diab’s release.

French prosecutors are appealing Diab’s speedy acquittal – but the case has slowed as prosecutors seek new evidence against him. Court proceedings have also been delayed due to the pandemic.

In 2021, France’s top court rejected Hassan Diab’s appeal and ordered him to stand trial, indicating that they would try him in absentia if he failed to return to France.

Survivors of the attack and the family of the victim attended the first day of the trial in Paris on Monday – where the prosecutor Benjamin Chambre called evidence of Diab’s presence of “great cowardice in his behavior.”

“This is a grave disgrace for justice and for the victims 43 years after the incident,” Chambre added.

Bayne dismissed Chambre’s comments as “one of those noisy voices asking to find the wrong person.”

A verdict is expected on April 21.