The federal government’s representative in the Senate says France has requested the extradition of Ottawa sociology professor Hassan Diab—a demand his supporters are telling the prime minister to refuse.
In a new letter to Justin Trudeau, over 130 members of the Canadian legal community say extradition must not be used as “an instrument of persecution and scapegoating.”
Diab, who has always claimed innocence, was tried in absentia in Paris for a 1980 attack on a synagogue that killed four and wounded 46.
A French court sentenced Diab to life in prison on April 21 and issued a warrant for his arrest.
The letter to Trudeau notes Sen. Marc Gold, the government’s representative in the upper chamber, subsequently told fellow senators that an extradition request from France had been received and was “being examined.”…