After five days of defence arguments, the Crown is expected to begin Tuesday to fight an accused terrorist’s bid to quash France’s effort to extradite him to face trial for a 1980 Paris synagogue bombing.
A lawyer for Hassan Diab, 56, has been arguing since Nov. 8 that France has abused the Canadian extradition process - and the sociology professor’s Charter rights - by presenting a summary of the case that includes at least nine serious misrepresentations.
Donald Bayne has also argued that Diab’s is an exceptional case - which he likens to Maher Arar’s “rendition” - in which a Canadian citizen is being sought based on unverifiable secret intelligence.
Bayne argued even French officials don’t know where it comes from and Human Rights Watch has expressed concerns material from third countries with poor records on torture are at the heart of French terror cases.
France alleges Diab was part of a group of Palestinian terrorists and the bomber behind the explosives strapped to an abandoned motorcycle that killed four and wounded 40 others.
The Crown has argued that it’s presenting a circumstantial but strong case against Diab on France’s behalf and that under Canadian law the requesting state’s evidence is presumed to be accurate.
