The Canadian professor held for three years in a French prison without charge or bail is calling for a public inquiry and review of the Canadian extradition system to prevent anyone else from enduring similar injustices.
Hassan Diab, who was extradited in 2014 by Canada at the request of French authorities, was freed earlier this week. He was allowed to return to Canada pending the appeal of the release decision in French courts, which ruled the evidence presented against him has been “groundless.”
READ MORE: Hassan Diab, former Canadian professor, freed after French courts drop terror accusations
Diab, formerly a professor of sociology at the University of Ottawa, had been at the heart of a controversial and widely condemned extradition approved by the former Conservative government despite criticisms by human rights groups that the evidence presented against him was flawed, unreliable, and likely tainted by torture.
Diab said he is thankful to be back in Canada and for the efforts of Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and staff at Global Affairs Canada to secure his release.
“Justice has finally prevailed. Miracles can happen these days,” Diab said. “I’m glad I’m back to my family and home in Canada. I’m beyond thrilled to see my family and children, and hug them outside the confines of a prison cell.”
When asked by reporters whether he would consider suing the federal government, Diab repeated statements he has made throughout his time in prison and said he does not want a penny from the Canadian government.
He also said that if courts in France decided to award money over the handling of his case, he would not take a penny of it for himself and instead make sure it went to the supporters and advocates who have worked to secure his release.
“It’s not a vendetta thing,” he said. “Most people will jump to that conclusion: how much money will he get? I said in my cell and I will repeat again: I don’t want any money from the taxpayers of Canada.”
Diab was asked repeatedly for clarification on why he did not want any compensation from the Canadian government if it were to be found to be warranted.
“Money means nothing to me on a personal level. I can live without money – I loved three years without money, practically. I noticed throughout my life when I have less money, I am happy.”
He continued, joking, “maybe I lost it when I was there for three years,” before saying he would like any money that could be granted from the French government should go to others who helped him and those who work to prevent such a thing from happening again.
Under French law, Diab will be entitled to a sort of state tariff for the three years he spent in prison without charge.
However, that would only be awarded if the appeal of his release that is currently underway is dismissed by the courts, and would not nowhere close to the multi-million compensations awarded over the past year who faced detention and torture abroad.
“It’s not lavish money,” his lawyer, Don Bayne, told reporters. “It’s a state tariff, and nothing on the scale of some other cases you’ve heard about in Canada.”
WATCH ABOVE: Lawyer for Hassan Diab lays out case against extradition
French authorities first alleged 10 years ago that they had evidence linking him to a deadly 1980 firebombing of a Paris synagogue.
That attack killed four people and injured 40 others, and was the first fatal attack against the Jewish community in France since the Second World War.
Ottawa police arrested Diab at his home in 2008 following a request by French authorities. They built their accusations on evidence such as a sketch made from descriptions of the bomber that they said resembled Diab and a pair of entry and exit stamps from Spain on Diab’s passport.
Authorities had believed the bomber behind the attack had fled through Spain.
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Canadian courts authorized his extradition to France in 2014 despite the lack of strong evidence.
He has been in prison for the last three years without charge and without bail and was also held in solitary confinement for periods of that time.
The ruling made by French judges to grant his release found that French authorities never had enough evidence to charge Diab even when they made their request for extradition.
READ MORE: Ottawa man challenges extradition order
That alone is grounds for an inquiry into why the extradition was allowed to proceed, said Diab’s lawyer.
“Extradition to a foreign country is only ever to try a Canadian,” said Bayne, who has represented Diab in Canada. “France was never, ever ready with a case to try Dr. Diab.”
READ MORE: Ottawa man wanted by France to learn fate
Rob Nicholson, the former Conservative MP, was justice minister at the time of Diab’s extradition.
He appeared to stand by his decision in a statement to Global News.
“Extradition requests made to and from Canada are confidential, state to state communications.Canada’s Extradition Act provides for Canada’s court system to determine if there is sufficient evidence to justify an individual’s committal for extradition,” Nicholson said.
“This case, like all extradition cases, was subject to judicial review at several stages of the process. You will note that the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear the appeal in this case.”
Bayne said from conversations with French authorities, Diab is in a “legal limbo.”
“We are now in the odd legal limbo of having an appeal pending in France,” Bayne said. “It is not over but we would like to hope and believe that it really is over. I know from talking with the French lawyers that this is unprecedented in France.”
It is expected to take months for French courts to go through the appeal of his release decision.
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