A federal lawyer accused university professor Hassan Diab of giving unreliable testimony Friday as he argued a Superior Court judge should deny him bail on charges of murder laid in France in connection with a 1980 synagogue bombing in Paris.
Crown lawyer Claude Lefrancois pointed to testimony from Diab’s spouse that the lawyer said showed the veracity of Diab’s statements was questionable and that he could be a flight risk as he awaits extradition proceedings for a possible trial in France.
But in a day of heated arguments, Diab’s lawyer accused Lefrancois of cultural intolerance and sexism for the way the federal attorney questioned Rania Tfaily - the professor’s common-law wife - and for his portrayal of Diab’s past relations and frequent travels.
Lefrancois made a point of noting Tfaily was 24 years younger than the 55-year-old Diab and had first met him when she was a 19-year-old student and he was her teacher at a university in Lebanon.
The Crown lawyer also questioned Tfaily’s accepting response to her discovery last year that Diab had taken a week-long winter trip to Cuba with another woman without telling her.
The exchanges infuriated Diab’s lawyer, Rene Duval, who accused Lefrancois of being intolerant because of those and other asides he made during the two-day bail hearing.
“He made the point that she is younger than him,” Duval told Ontario Superior Court Justice Michel Charbonneau. “This is sexism.”
Lefrancois argued that his questioning about the Cuba trip was central to Diab’s trustworthiness in case he is released on bail. He also said Tfaily’s reluctance to criticize Diab for his affair was critical in terms of her ability to control his actions if he is set free before his extradition hearings.
Charbonneau scheduled a verdict on the bail request for Dec. 3.
Lefrancois questioned whether the amount of money that would be put up would prevent Diab from fleeing.
Tfaily said she could put up about $30,000, including money from her line of credit, and Adam Chamy - a Toronto man who described himself as a close friend of Diab’s - said he could raise nearly $20,000.
Duval challenged the argument from Lefrancois, saying: "$15,000 to $20,000 is as significant to Chamy as $1 million is for Conrad Black.” Tfaily is a fulltime professor at Carleton University, where Diab teaches sociology part-time. He is also a part-time professor at the University of Ottawa.
Lefrancois noted Tfaily contradicted Diab on the circumstances of his trip to Cuba and the whereabouts of his expired Lebanese passport earlier this year. She said he went to Cuba because the two were at a strained point in their relationship, and he told court he went simply for a vacation and his wife did not enjoy beaches.
Diab testified he left the passport in their house after it expired, while Tfaily testified she locked it in her office at Carleton University when the couple became fearful after someone broke into their condominium. They were also being followed by strange men occasionally, and at one time reported the incidents to the Ottawa police.
Evidence in the bail hearing has revealed the men following Diab were RCMP officers, and had been tailing him since last January after news reports in France first alleged that Diab was involved in the 1980 bombing that killed four people outside the synagogue.
Duval questioned the reliability of French evidence that claims Diab was a member of a terrorist group devoted to an independent Palestine at the time of the bombing, when Diab was a university student in Beirut.
An affidavit from French police claims one of Diab’s former two wives, who is now living in the U.S. and remains a close friend, was also a member of the Front de liberation de la Palestine.
A passport that Diab later reported he lost in 1981 is a key part of the French evidence. It contains entry and exit stamps for Spain before and after the Paris bombing. French authorities alleged Diab went to France through Spain.
The passport was seized from another man by Italian authorities in 1981, but Diab did not report it missing in Lebanon until 1983, Lefrancois said.
Lefrancois countered that the French had accumulated a “solid” case.
“He’s not going to be hung summarily when he goes to France,” he told Charbonneau. “He’s going to be having a trial”.
