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e-833 (Canadians abroad)

E-petition
Initiated by Roger Clark from Ottawa, Ontario

Original language of petition: English

Petition to the Government of Canada

Whereas:
  • Canadian citizen and academic Hassan Diab was extradited to France in 2014 in a case widely viewed as a wrongful conviction in the making;
  • Hassan has been detained since then in France for questioning based on anonymous “intelligence” allegations, possibly gleaned from torture;
  • Hassan was extradited based solely on a widely discredited handwriting report that the Canadian extradition judge described as “illogical”, “very problematic” and “suspect” and even though Hassan’s fingerprints, palm prints and physical description do not match those of the suspect;
  • The extradition judge noted that the low threshold for evidence under Canada’s extradition law compelled him to order Hassan’s extradition;
  • In 2016, a French investigative judge found “consistent evidence” supporting Hassan’s innocence, concluding that he could not have been in Paris at the time of the 1980 bombing for which he is under investigation;
  • In May and again in October 2016, the French investigative judge ordered Hassan’s release on bail, finding no grounds for his further detention;
  • The French Court of Appeal overturned the release orders due to the political climate in France. Hassan remains imprisoned in a special segregated unit with only two hours per day out of his cell;
  • Hassan has been in jail or on electronic monitoring for over eight years; and
  • Hassan is supported by prominent civil liberties associations, unions, and thousands of Canadians who have called for his return to Canada.
We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to work towards the immediate granting of bail to Hassan and securing his urgent return to his family and home in Canada.
Government response tabled on November 2, 2017 (Sessional Paper No. 8545-421-173-01)
Open for signature
March 13, 2017, at 9:28 a.m. (EDT)
Closed for signature
July 11, 2017, at 9:28 a.m. (EDT)
Presented to the House of Commons
Don Davies (Vancouver Kingsway)
September 21, 2017 (Petition No. 421-01654)
Government response tabled
November 2, 2017
Photo - Don Davies
Vancouver Kingsway
New Democratic Party Caucus
British Columbia