Such A Happy Family

"I see it from the other side. In these tough and hard times, she brightens our days and makes our lives brighter. Many people might think in the opposite way, but that's how I see it. She is full of joy. She is always full of joy."
"You can always think this way [loss of Canadian normalcy] but with Jena we can think of the future. It's something beautiful in your life that makes you stronger and makes you want to fight even harder."
Hassan Diab, Lebanese-Canadian Palestinian, 60

Hassan Diab with his wife Rania Tfaily and daughter Jena.

Photograph by: Jean Levac , Ottawa Citizen

"This case has been going on since 2008 and it might not end any time soon. If one waits until all this completely finishes before starting a family, it is going to be too late. You want to start a family, but you are also worried about the future."
"It's not a normal family situation, and going through all these years has not been easy. It's emotional for all families who pass through a situation like this. But Jenna has brought us lots of happiness and hope."
Rania Tfaily, 35, Canadian wife of Hassan Diab

These two proud parents are speaking of their exuberantly adorable little girl, sixteen-month-old Jena. Born in Canada. A child born in Canada has a very special meaning to its parents. I gives them a certain guarantee of sober second thought comprised mostly of compassion for a child brought into the murky depths of a case of a suspected terrorist who refuses to be extradited to France to stand trial for a violent incident that took place many years ago.

Mr. Diab represents a prime suspect in France which has taken a renewed interest in attempting to solve a crime whereby suspected members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine led a bomb attack on a synagogue located on Rue Copernic 34 years ago. Four people who were passersby were killed, others injured. The death toll would have been much larger had not people emerged later than usual from the synagogue before the motorcycle carrying the bomb was detonated.

French investigators seem convinced that Mr. Diab was involved in the attack and would like to interrogate him, to place him on trial. Mr. Diab disparages French justice, insisting he will be found guilty of a crime he did not commit. Canada has an extradition agreement with France as it does with many other countries not all of them like France, refusing to extradite their own citizens.

Mr. Diab has spoken in the past of how common a surname his is, and the entire situation is one of mistaken identity. Although no apparently firm evidence exists of Mr. Diab's unquestioned involvement in the attack, French authorities believe evidence that is said to have emanated from suspect sources. Extradition Judge Robert Maranger held that though some of the evidence seemed unconvincing, he moved to extradite.

"The case presented by the Republic of France against Mr. Diab is a weak case; the prospects of conviction in the context of a fair trial, seem unlikely. However, it matters not that I hold this view. There is no power to deny extradition in cases that appear to the extradition judge to be weak or unlikely to succeed at trial", he wrote.

It seems all too convenient and perhaps fairly suspect that a man who has been forced by the conditions of his bail release to wear an ankle bracelet at considerable personal cost, portrays himself as a loving father of a child born even while he was enmeshed in this messy affair. If he indeed was involved in a criminal act before coming to Canada, he would have lied to Immigration authorities to be accepted for entry.

If, as Judge Maranger suspects, the 'prospects of conviction ... seem unlikely', based on the evidence available, the solution to the impasse seems simple enough. Mr. Diab could reasonably have agreed to have his innocence proven by a French court; if justice is not available in a French court, then where does it reside? His name cleared, one wonders whether he would have seen fit to father another child.

"We are hoping that the Court of Appeal decision will fix the error [rejecting the extradition request]. The judge (Maranger) himself said there is no prospect of conviction in a fair trial. You can't ask of more before you say, 'Let this guy out'", he commented hopefully. That was yesterday.

Today is a different story: "It is with great shock that I learned that the Court of Appeal upheld my extradition order . . . such a decision means that any Canadian citizen can be detained, uprooted and extradited based on deeply flawed evidence that a foreign state submits."

There is, however, another avenue of appeal before "all is lost", the Supreme Court of Canada. And it is to that court that the last appeal will be directed by Mr. Diab's lawyer.

"The upholding of the extradition order does not assume Diab's culpability. Diab will be able to defend himself before France's judicial system, which is just as impartial as Canada's."
David Koschitzky, chair, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs