Was Canadian professor Hassan Diab innocent or a scapegoat for France shul bombing?

For the last two months, listeners around the world have been hearing a deeply reported true-crime podcast investigation – the first of its kind – into the notorious Canadian case of a mild-mannered Ottawa sociology professor, Hassan Diab, who France recently convicted of being the terrorist who blew up Paris’ historic Copernic Street synagogue in 1980. Although Diab has no intention of serving out that life sentence in a French prison for the murders of four victims, and the wounding of many others: the professor from Carleton University claims he is innocent, was nowhere near Paris, was never mixed up in terrorism and is the wrong man. And, despite already spending nearly 27 years under suspicion, including some locked behind bars or on tight bail conditions, Diab’s fight to prove he’s a scapegoat has now received some renewed support. The Canadaland _news platform has published a six-part series called “The Copernic Affair”. It raises serious questions into how French officials prosecuted the case, using incomplete or inadmissible evidence, a weak Canadian extradition system, and by France’s historic need to bring someone, anyone, to justice for a terrorist attack that’s deeply etched into their national memory. Diab’s many supporters, including some Jewish Canadian leaders, regret how the man’s life has been ruined, facing calls for him to be fired at work, and ongoing death threats to his family in Ottawa. On today’s episode of _The CJN Daily, Ellin is joined by the two journalists behind the unique investigative series: Alex Atack is a senior audio producer, often for The Guardian, and Dana Ballout, an Emmy-award winning documentary producer, with bylines on This American Life, National Geographic/ Disney+, The Wall Street Journal and Al-Jazeera.

To read a transcript of the episode, go to our website: https://thecjn.ca/podcasts/hassan-diab/

What we talked about:

• Read some of The CJN’s coverage of the Hassan Diab saga, and hear The CJN Daily’s interview on the Copernic bombing with Israel’s Ambassador to Canada, Iddo Moed .
• Hear the Canadaland investigation podcast series The Copernic Affair.
• Read the Canadian government’s own scathing report on Canada’s extradition of Diab to France in 2018.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Joseph Fish (chase producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

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