Reb Arie's Midrash

July 29th, 2009 | Tikkun Daily

This article has been edited to relfect dating issues. A picture of Carleton University has been removed due to formatting restrictions.

It is now over a year ago that I was contacted with respect to Hassan Diab. Dr Diab’s grievance against Carleton University is in process and a decision is imminent in the New Year. Dr Tfaily’s computer has been searched under order from the Court. The Court did so, in my opinion, to prevent an appeal by the Crown.  A Crown appeal, and this Crown counsel has consistently lost his appeals,  would add considerable financial burden to what is at present a single-income marriage. Diab is due to face his extradition hearing in February 2010.

Hassan Diab

I recieved an email on the Potlucks For Peace listserv about Rania Tfaily and Hassan Diab. Hassan had been arrested by the RCMP on a request by French authorities for his extradition forallegedly blowing up a Parisian synagogue during Sukkot in 1980.

Rania Tfaily

Rania Tfaily is Hassan Diab’s wife. Susan and I invited Rania, who is younger than our eldest child, over for tea. I then met with Don Bain, who is Hassan Diab’s lawyer.

The circumstances of jailing Hassan Diab were such that an appeal was launched and the appeal court, in a relativley uncommon decision, ordered a second bail hearing. Bail was granted at the second hearing with strict conditions.

I spent hours doing the appropriate due diligence before I made a decision to work on behalf of Hassan.

I read accumulated testimonials. I spoke for hours with Rania. I spent about eight hours over four weeks with Hassan at the Ottawa-Carlton Detention Centre, where I have visiting chaplain’s privileges.

It was only after all this that I signed a surety. Then I testified on Hassan’s behalf.

Rue Copernic bombing

One of the testimonials filed on Hassan’s behalf is from an academic mentor, who is Jewish. I asked him if Hassan could have bombed the synagogue.

Yes.

This was an honest man giving an honest opinion. Other references were less honest, because saying No simply is not an honest reply.

Whether or not I believe Hassan Diab bombed the synagogue is not relevant. If he did? It was the cowardly act of an angry 26 year old unencumbered by the anxieties and temperment of a now 56 year old academic.

Aftermath of the Rue Copernic bombing

Hassan Diab is a complex man. Hassan is also a student of conflict. His PhD is in the resolution of conflict. If he bombed a Parisian syangogue 30 years ago his remorse has fueled his academic studies.

Is Hassan Diab a terrorist — or, rather, was Hassan Diab a terrorist? I have no answer for you. I can tell you, however, how he has been terrorised.

He was unjustly incarcerated — the first bail hearing could just as easily have ordered house arrest under the strict conditions imposed by the second bail hearing.This bail was opposed by the Crown prosecutor, who appealed it. He lost the appeal.

Rania’s computer, which had her course notes (she is a professor of sociolology), was confiscated under the search warrant. The seizure was probably reasonable. Keeping it for months longer than necessary was not.

I can’t blame the RCMP: they are under the direction of the Crown prosecutor, what Americans call an assistant US Attorney, and would have given it back if directed to do so, which they weren’t. The return required a court order to the Crown.

Hassan Diab does not speak French, which is an official language in Canada. The first bail hearing was conducted in Quebec, where he was then living, and was solely in French, which is illegal: all federal institutions must provide services in both official languages.

Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre

The Crown is French but fluently bilingual. He refused the reasonable request to translate documents from France into English. In Ottawa, both French and English are commonly spoken — often interchangably in the same conversation! This refusal was absurd. It took an appeal court to order the translation.

Hassan was given a temporary job at Carleton University to teach Introductory Sociology. The Ottawa Citizen reported this — and Hassan was promptly fired. He is grieving the termination.

The National Post, in an unsigned editorial, is calling for Hassan’s reinstatement. The Nat Post is not known to be a liberal newspaper.

Bnai Brith Canada put out a press release condemning Hassan’s temporary appointment to Carleton University.

I obtained the press release from my wife, who obtained it from a friend of ours in Vancouver, who obtained it from a synagogue’s listserv.

I have spoken to my colleagues on the Jewish Courts for Social Justice and am awaiting their feedback if the Courts should issue a press release refuting Bnai Brith. It is my opinion that we should do so.

In the meantime I decided to bring this matter to your attention. Democracy, Churchill famously asserts, is the worst form of government — except for the alternatives.

Is this democracy or the alternative?