Episode 3: The Professor

Summary

The Copernic Affair | Canadaland Investigates

Episode 3: The Professor

Release Date: January 29, 2025

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Host/Authors: Dana Ballout and Alex Atack
Description: This episode delves into the life of Hassan Diab, a sociology professor in Canada accused of orchestrating a 1980 bomb attack on a synagogue in Paris. As Diab maintains his innocence, investigations unravel complex layers of his past, raising critical questions about justice and scapegoating.

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1. Introduction to the Case

The episode opens with the chilling backdrop of the 1980 Copernic Street synagogue bombing in Paris—a heinous attack that left four innocent lives lost and many traumatized families seeking closure. Years later, French investigators zero in on Hassan Diab, a seemingly unassuming sociology professor in Ottawa, Canada, as the prime suspect.

Notable Quote:

• Dana Ballout (00:01): “Canadaland funded by you?”
• Alex Atack (00:06): “Who's abducting 100,000 children in China each year?”

Note: The initial timestamps include advertisements and introductions which are not directly related to the main content.

2. Hassan Diab’s Early Life

The narrative delves into Diab’s upbringing in Beirut, Lebanon, during the tumultuous times leading up to the Lebanese Civil War. Born in 1953 to a Shia Muslim family with limited financial means, Diab grew up with six siblings, assisting his father in their small textile shop. His mother, an advocate for education, encouraged him to pursue studies despite both parents being illiterate.

Notable Quotes:

• Hassan Diab (07:15): “My dream is to sleep in the forest. To see no walls. Under a tree is good.”
• Dana Ballout (09:14): “Hassan Diab grew up in the 1950s in a Shia Muslim family in Lebanon.”

3. The Lebanese Civil War and Its Impact

In April 1975, Lebanon descended into civil war, drastically altering Diab’s life. Beirut became a battleground divided by Christian and Muslim militias, with checkpoints and escalating violence disrupting daily life. Despite the chaos, Diab maintained a semblance of normalcy, distancing himself from militant groups and focusing on his studies and personal interests like swimming and motorcycling.

Notable Quotes:

• Alex Atack (12:17): “This day, April 13, 1975, is remembered as day one of the Lebanese civil war.”
• Hassan Diab (20:03): “It was… my kind of lifestyle. If you want to call it hippie life, call it hippie life.”

4. Life in Exile and Academic Pursuits

As the civil war raged, Diab pursued higher education, culminating in a master's degree in sociology from the Lebanese University. In 1987, amid continued instability, he emigrated to the United States with his then-girlfriend, Nawal Kupti, marrying her in Cyprus before settling in Syracuse, New York. Their marriage eventually dissolved in the early 1990s, but their paths continued to intertwine.

Notable Quotes:

• Nawal Kupti (15:22): “Yeah, he was very, very cute.”
• Dana Ballout (27:11): “After Hassan graduated from the Lebanese University with a master's in sociology…”

5. Accusations and Investigation

Fast forward to 2007: French investigator Mark Trevedyk reignites the Copernic Affair, gathering evidence that points to Diab as the mastermind behind the 1980 synagogue bombing. Central to this case is Diab’s passport, found in possession of the militant group believed responsible for the attack, with entry and exit stamps aligning suspiciously with the date of the bombing.

Notable Quotes:

• Alex Atack (22:13): “Key to their claim here is Hassan Diab's passport…”
• Hassan Diab (23:00): “You know, I suppose that I lost it. And after I came back from Greece.”

6. The 2007 Confrontation

In Ottawa, Diab is unexpectedly confronted by French journalist Jean Chichizola, who informs him of the allegations. Diab, taken aback, initially dismisses it as a misunderstanding. However, the situation quickly escalates as he begins to experience suspicious activities, culminating in a 2008 police raid that results in his detention.

Notable Quotes:

• Hassan Diab (34:06): “It was like the biggest, one of the biggest shocks in my life.”
• Dana Ballout (35:26): “He thought this is just some kind of mix up.”

7. Legal Proceedings and Evidence Discrepancies

During detention, Diab asserts his innocence, supported by testimonies from friends and university records indicating he was in Beirut at the time of the bombing. Notably, Nawal Kupti’s alibi, confirmed by passport stamps and personal recollections, contradicts the French authorities’ timeline. However, her legal counsel’s decision to invoke the Fifth Amendment during interviews weakened the defense, raising suspicions.

Notable Quotes:

• Nawal Kupti (26:42): “We went together to the airport…”
• Hassan Diab (39:54): “I have nothing to hide.”

8. Insights from Interviews

Dana and Alex share their experiences meeting Diab in Ottawa. Diab comes across as energetic yet evasive, often avoiding straightforward answers. Despite extensive interviews covering his past between 1975 and 1980, Diab remains adamant about his innocence, attributing the accusations to mistaken identity—a plausible scenario given the commonality of his name in Lebanon.

Notable Quotes:

• Dana Ballout (09:07): “Hassan Diab's memories were so detailed, meticulous.”
• Hassan Diab (21:04): “For any group? No, for myself maybe. I used to shoot at birds, but I missed most of the birds.”

9. The Broader Implications: Justice vs. Injustice

The case of Hassan Diab raises profound questions about the nature of justice. Is Diab a genuine perpetrator, or is he being scapegoated due to his background and geopolitical tensions? The Canadian legal system faces the challenge of balancing international pressure with the principles of fairness and due process.

Notable Quotes:

• Dana Ballout (42:42): “Never occurred to you that he might not be innocent?”
• Hassan Diab (43:05): “I thought, okay, now the judge is going to make things right. Because that's what judges are supposed to do.”

10. Conclusion and Ongoing Developments

As the episode concludes, the extradition case inches toward a resolution in the Ontario Superior Court, amid growing public scrutiny and support for Diab. The narrative remains complex, intertwining personal histories with international legal battles, leaving listeners questioning the true extent of Diab’s involvement in the Copernic Affair.

Notable Quotes:

• Dana Ballout (43:16): “The Copernic Affair is a production of Canadaland in partnership with House of Many Windows.”
• Hassan Diab (42:58): “I have my gut feelings that this is an innocent man and we need to support him.”

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Key Takeaways

• Complex Narratives: Hassan Diab’s life story is intricate, marked by war, migration, and academic pursuits, making the allegations against him multifaceted.
• Evidence and Alibis: Conflicting evidence, such as passport discrepancies and alibi testimonies, play a critical role in the investigation.
• Legal and Ethical Questions: The case highlights the tension between seeking justice for victims and ensuring that innocent individuals are not wrongfully prosecuted.
• Human Element: Personal stories, including those of Nawal Kupti and Diab’s interactions, add depth to the investigation, emphasizing the human cost of such accusations.

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Final Thoughts

Episode 3 of "The Copernic Affair" offers a deep dive into a case that challenges our understanding of justice, identity, and the long shadows cast by historical conflicts. Through meticulous storytelling and insightful interviews, Canadaland invites listeners to ponder whether justice can ever be truly served without inadvertently inflicting further injustice.

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Transcript

[Hassan Diab]

Canadaland funded by you?

[Alex Atack]

Who's abducting 100,000 children in China each year?

[Dana Boulut]

And how was a cult where paedophilia.

[Alex Atack]

Murder and torture were commonplace allowed to.

[Hassan Diab]

Operate in Chile for nearly four decades?

[Alex Atack]

At True Crime Reports, a new video podcast from Al Jazeera, we'll investigate these stories from the global south and beyond. True crimes that often haven't reached the headlines in the West. I'm Halim oh Yudin. In each episode we'll take you to a different country. You'll hear from experts and first hand accounts from those right at the heart of these stories. True Crime Reports. Find us under Al Jazeera's YouTube channel podcast tab and wherever you get your podcasts.

[Dana Boulut]

Did you know that parents rank financial literacy as the number one most difficult life skill to teach? Meet Greenlight, the debit card and money app for families. With Greenlight, you can send money to kids quickly, set up chores automate allowance, and keep an eye on your kids spending with real time notifications, kids learn to earn, save and spend wisely. And parents can rest easy knowing their kids are learning about money with guardrails in place. Try Greenlight Risk free [e-mail] Listen.

[Hassan Diab]

Staying on top of Canadian news does not have to be boring. Canadaland is a podcast that brings you the news differently.

[Alex Atack]

Our reporters break original news stories that.

[Dana Boulut]

You won't hear anywhere else.

[Hassan Diab]

And our hosts and guests have funny.

[Dana Boulut]

And smart conversations about what is happening.

[Hassan Diab]

In Canadian politics and media. We're living through an era of heightened anxiety and fear. This Prime Minister is not worth the.

[Dana Boulut]

Cost, crime and corruption.

[Hassan Diab]

I am not a KGB agent. Listen to Canadaland wherever you get your podcasts.

[Alex Atack]

Last time on the Copenik affair. After the 1980 attack on the Copenik street synagogue, the victims lived with years of trauma, unable to find closure. But 27 years after the bombing, a new judge took up the case. Mark Trevedyk was determined to bring justice to the victims.

[Dana Boulut]

He presented the case in a very impressive way, very convincing way. So, you know, for us, the families.

[Hassan Diab]

I guess it was wow, because we.

[Dana Boulut]

Haven'T heard anything for so many years.

[Alex Atack]

Trevudik tracked down his main suspect, Hassan Diab, a sociology professor living in Ottawa, Canada. Was this the first time you'd heard the name Hassan Diab come up?

[Dana Boulut]

Yes, yes.

[Hassan Diab]

We haven't heard it before at all.

[Dana Boulut]

This was astonishing for us.

[Hassan Diab]

I mean, that something like this can happen at all.

[Dana Boulut]

We were also happy that they tracked down the guy who actually planted the bomb.

[Alex Atack]

After a year of investigation, Mark Trevedi felt he'd gathered enough evidence to tip the case over the line and requested Hassan Diab's extradition to France.

[Dana Boulut]

I'm Dana Boulut. I'm Alex Atak from Canadaland. This is the Copernic affair. Hi, Alex. I'm on the plane from LA to Ottawa. I'm somewhere above Chicago right now, on my way to visit Hassan Diab in Ottawa. I was nervous. A lot was riding on this trip. Alex was back in the UK, but I kept him updated with WhatsApp voice notes. This case is such a mind fuck. You'll, like, read one document and you'll be like. We'd been speaking with Hassan for months over Zoom at this point. We'd interviewed lawyers, victims of the attack, magistrates. We'd read hundreds of pages of court documents, testimonies and evidence. And we'd spoken to Hassan's inner circle. I'm mostly nervous to meet Hassan tonight because I just don't know what to expect. When I traveled to meet him at his home, I was there to ask difficult questions, sure. But I was also there to get a sense of the man. Who is Hassan Diab? What's his version of this story? Also, I've read up to like 500 pages at this point about him and what he might look like. And does he have short hair, long hair, light hair, big eyes, small eyes? Is he a meter 70 or is he a meter 65? Does he speak French? Does he not speak French? Anyway, we'll see how it goes. I'll keep you posted. Okay, bye. I was kind of apprehensive. I mean, the man Alex and I had spoken to over Zoom seemed harmless. But this constant thought lingered in the back of my mind. This man is believed by French prosecutors to have murdered four innocent people. And he was still basically a stranger to me. So I asked my husband Jonathan if he would come on the trip too and help me film the interviews. How's that angle?

[Hassan Diab]

Is that okay?

[Dana Boulut]

Yeah, yeah. And in the dead of winter, we landed in freezing, ass sleepy Ottawa. There's been a snowstorm since we got here. Snow, ice, wind coming from Los Angeles. This was not my comfort zone. So we are almost at Hasan's house. As we pulled into Hassan's driveway, his daughter was shoveling snow. When she saw us pull up, she yelled to her mother in Arabic, ijatul Mara, that lady is here. She must have assumed I didn't speak or understand Arabic, and it made me smile. When we went inside the house, I met Hassan's kids and wife, Rania. Rania was, I think, a little wary of me. I tried putting her at ease by speaking to her in Arabic, establishing some common ground, breaking the ice. But she only responded to me in English. She also didn't want to speak to us. For this podcast, she has done a lot of interviews, campaigns and press conferences on Hasan's behalf and told me it was too painful to keep doing them. No to interviewing the kids either, which fair enough. Then Hassan walked in. Hi Hassan.

[Hassan Diab]

Good. How are you doing guys? Sorry I missed you.

[Dana Boulut]

He was energetic and welcoming, almost excited we were there. Hassan looks exactly how you might expect a sociology professor to look. Short, neat hair, square, wire framed glasses. He has this bouncy energy about him. Walks around with a spring in his step, like he's always in a rush to get somewhere.

[Hassan Diab]

My dream is to sleep in the forest. To see no walls. Under a tree is good. During the day, under a tree is the best thing, especially when it's hot. Oh, that's a dream.

[Dana Boulut]

He made some jokes, offered us water, and tried to make us feel comfortable in his home.

[Hassan Diab]

We moved before, just before COVID hit this area.

[Dana Boulut]

Then we followed him to a quiet room at the back of the house. It was small. The walls were covered in artwork by his two youngest children. There was a bed in one corner and a poster in another that read Bring Hassan home. And notebooks everywhere, stacks of them in the closet, stacks on the desk. A notebook in Hassan's hand too. He seemed to carry one at all times. And it's here that we spent the next six hours talking. So can you introduce yourself?

[Hassan Diab]

Oh, Hassan Diab. I was born in Beirut, Lebanon. Most of my life, I would say at the early childhood I was in the sport, activities in general and mainly football. I like to play football. I still remember even the names of the first league, League One in Lebanon. I can tell you the 12 teams, they were involved. If you want me, I can tell you. Najmi Racing. These are two.

[Dana Boulut]

It didn't take me long to realize getting short answers from Hassan was going to be difficult. His stories ran in circles, often felt.

[Hassan Diab]

Random monkeys jumping around, you know, you can imagine we have two.

[Dana Boulut]

And sometimes I'd lose track of whether he was on a tangent or the story was the tangent.

[Hassan Diab]

What they used to call it in Arabic. I forgot the name.

[Dana Boulut]

I'd ask one question and he would.

[Hassan Diab]

Just go by a taxi, though he didn't know how to drive.

[Dana Boulut]

But he hadn't set any ground rules for this interview. Nothing was off limits. And one of the first things I Noticed was that his memories were so detailed, meticulous.

[Hassan Diab]

The first time I learned how to swim, it wasn't a lesson. It was, somebody pushed me in the sea and nobody came to save me, I said.

[Dana Boulut]

Hassan Ziab grew up in the 1950s in a Shia Muslim family in Lebanon. His family didn't have a lot of money. He grew up with six siblings, five boys and one girl.

[Hassan Diab]

Mother wanted a girl, so she kept trying until finally number seven came. Girl. And she said, now, mission accomplished.

[Dana Boulut]

Quite early in our conversation, I couldn't help but notice the parallels between Hassan and my father. Both born in 1953, both born into working class families in Lebanon, and both grew up with six siblings. I found myself quietly comparing details of Hassan's life against stories my father told me about his life in Lebanon. This became my own weird way of sense. Checking Hassan's stories. He told me his father worked a few different jobs before opening a small textile shop in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, where Hassan would spend most of his time. Even as a child, he helped his father at the store back.

[Hassan Diab]

The store was 50 yards or 100 yards from the house. He would come home and take a nap, eat, and Hassan is looking after the business. And I want to play football. What's this? But I don't know. For some reasons, he trusted my skills and business.

[Dana Boulut]

Both of his parents were illiterate, so they relied on him to keep track of who bought what, how to spell customers names, and what was owed at the end of the month. While his father wanted him to work at the shop, his mother encouraged him to study and to read.

[Hassan Diab]

She wanted everybody to read. And she kept saying, I don't want you to be like me.

[Dana Boulut]

Do you remember what were some of your favorite books?

[Hassan Diab]

Some literature. Mikhail Naimi and Sabh Araj and Elia Abumadi and gosh, Anything that wasn't in the school curriculum. I read most of these things and other books between. What's her name? Agatha Christie. Agatha Christie. I read so many of her books.

[Dana Boulut]

So that was Hasan's childhood school, which he hated. Helping to run his father's business, which he also hated. Swimming, football, walking in nature, and reading, which he loved. It was a simple life, but not for long.

[Alex Atack]

One morning in the spring of 1975, Hassan was at a football match in Beirut when news started to spread of a gunfight between a Christian militia and a Palestinian guerrilla group. The violence got worse later that day when a bus filled with Palestinians was attacked and more than 20 people were killed.

[Hassan Diab]

And I see something in the streets unusual and people saying, oh, avoid the street, avoid that one. What's going on? There are shootings. That was a Sunday, April 13, and, you know, everything went crazy from that day on.

[Alex Atack]

This day, April 13, 1975, is remembered as day one of the Lebanese civilization war. And this is really where Hassan's life and everyone's life in Lebanon took a turn. The country descended into chaos.

[Dana Boulut]

There was more sniper and machine gun.

[Alex Atack]

Fire in Beirut today.

[Dana Boulut]

The premier of Lebanon tried to patch together another ceasefire.

[Alex Atack]

And in that chaos, militias found a haven in Lebanon. The country became a complex patchwork of areas controlled by various armed groups.

[Hassan Diab]

It's a confusing combination of political organizations that, that makes up the leftist street.

[Dana Boulut]

Fighters in this civil war.

[Hassan Diab]

You know, it took maybe two, three months before it went spread to other areas, to the city center, downtown and other places. So then you start coping with what's going on. You start seeing people coming from all organizations, coming around, walking the streets, the streets.

[Alex Atack]

Hassan had grown up playing football on the neighbourhoods he'd walked through to get to school. They became frontlines for vicious gun battles. This was once the richest part of the richest city in the Middle East. Now it's the front line of the war in the Lebanon. Buildings where last year the money makers of the Western world exchanged their millions are now the barricades of Beirut.

[Dana Boulut]

But despite the chaos and struggle everywhere and the complete disruption of normal life, there was one thing the civil war in Lebanon could not extinguish. The flame of young love. Did you know that parents rank financial literacy as the number one most difficult life skill to teach? Meet Greenlight, the debit card and money app for families. With Greenlight, you can send money to kids quickly, set up chores automate allowance and keep an eye on your kids spending. With real time notifications, kids learn to earn, save and spend wisely. And parents can rest easy knowing their kids are learning about money with guardrails in place. Try Greenlight Risk free [e-mail] Listen. So tell me how you met Hasan.

[Nawal Kupti]

I remember meeting Hassan in 1979. I was a student at the American University of Beirut. I remember the first time I met him. It was a play on campus. And I, for some reason remember that play. He was waiting for Gudo and he was taking some photographs of the play and so on.

[Dana Boulut]

This is Nawal Kupti. One weekend I drove about six hours to meet her in Northern California at her home. She told me how back in the late 1970s, she was studying computer science in Beirut when she first met Hassan, did you find him cute?

[Nawal Kupti]

Yeah, he was very, very cute.

[Dana Boulut]

When you first started speaking like, what did you think of his demeanor?

[Nawal Kupti]

Oh, he was very friendly. He was the joking type. He liked to swim. He was athletic. He was pretty nice and friendly.

[Dana Boulut]

Do you remember how we first asked you out?

[Nawal Kupti]

I think maybe we went for a swim together.

[Dana Boulut]

Noel and Hassan's romance was unlikely for the times. She was Christian and Palestinian. Her family had money, and Hassan was neither Christian nor Palestinian nor wealthy. That pairing in Lebanon even today is rare. When your family met him, was it ever an issue that he was like a different religion?

[Nawal Kupti]

It was actually when they found that he's a Muslim, I don't think they were very pleased about that. I would say my mom was probably okay, but maybe my dad had some reservations, and my dad's family had some reservations. They would have preferred a Christian.

[Dana Boulut]

And do you remember those conversations with your dad? Did he ever come around?

[Nawal Kupti]

My dad? Yes. It took a while. You know, at the time, people always worried what the neighbors might say. It's not like, oh, we don't like Muslims, not at all. It was more like, oh, how would it work? There's no civil marriage in Lebanon even. And it's very uncommon to have two people get married if they're of two different religions.

[Dana Boulut]

And falling in love with someone from a different religion is still an issue for a lot of people in Lebanon. But during the Lebanese civil war, being of a certain religion or background in the wrong place at the wrong time could also get you killed. Beirut was divided almost straight down the middle, with Christian militias on the east and Muslim militias on the west. Checkpoints were scattered across the city, each one seemingly controlled by a different militia.

[Nawal Kupti]

I lost a cousin in the civil war.

[Dana Boulut]

He disappeared.

[Nawal Kupti]

Basically, he and his friend were traveling between east and west Beirut.

[Dana Boulut]

Your id, which stated your name, nationality and religion, would be inspected at every checkpoint.

[Nawal Kupti]

And we don't know till this day what happened to him. How come he never reached home?

[Dana Boulut]

Hassan, being Muslim, helped Nawar's Christian family dodge certain restrictions the war had imposed and kept them safer.

[Nawal Kupti]

My mom was very, very careful. She was very protective. So she tried to make sure that they wouldn't go out on their own to certain areas. Hassan would be around to help us if we needed anything.

[Alex Atack]

The picture Nawal painted for us of Hassan Diab in the 1970s was of a fun, loving, smart, peaceful young man who liked photography and swimming. Someone who wrote her love poems and who kept her safe. Someone she could see a future with. But this description does not track with the story French investigators had put together about Hassan Diab by 2007. In their version, he was a militant university student, someone who, in his 20s, took an interest in leftist politics, but ended up on a very dark, violent road. A road that would lead him to join a Palestinian militia in Lebanon and be recruited into a group that would detonate a bomb outside the Copenik street synagogue. Central to the French case were five years in Hassan Diab's life between 1975, the start of the civil war, and 1980, the year of the Copernic attack. So Dana and I spent a lot of time talking to him about that period. You brought this up earlier like that. In Beirut, especially during the civil war, there were militias, political groups everywhere. And I wondered, how. How did your relationship to those groups work?

[Hassan Diab]

The university was a place where you see all these groups, from leftist to nationalists to few Islamists. And the university was the place where it reflected the power of all these people. And you have friends because they are in your class and you make fun of them. That was mostly my job. And to the point they said, hassan, your mouth is really not helping you, because sometimes you will get really in trouble. So I was well known of person who was anti all these groups, but I was more concerned about, you know, going every day to the sea. I would swim in winter and summer and I have my motorcycle. I had my, you know, different kind of lifestyle. If you want to call it hippie life, call it hippie life.

[Alex Atack]

You were in this context at university where there were lots of young people interested in being part of these political groups, maybe even fighting with them, and you were able to stay away from all of that, Is that what you're saying?

[Hassan Diab]

Absolutely. Even some people would say, we envy you the way you can manage with all these different groups who fight for anything.

[Alex Atack]

So just so I have it completely straight, you were never part of a group that could be considered a militia. You never fought with any of them, you never picked up arms.

[Hassan Diab]

It's strange you ask this, because most of these groups, everybody thought I was like, with another group. They just put the tag on you. Ah, he's with the Iraqis, he's with this.

[Dana Boulut]

But Hassan, are you able to answer the question yes or no? So the question is, did you ever belong to any political party? Is there a yes or no answer?

[Hassan Diab]

No, of course.

[Dana Boulut]

And then also, did you ever fight and pick up guns for any group?

[Hassan Diab]

For any group? No, for myself maybe. I used to shoot at birds, but I missed most of the birds.

[Dana Boulut]

Luckily, so you didn't participate? You never fought in the civil war for one political party over another?

[Hassan Diab]

I told you I would go with all these people out and they would shoot. They would let me shoot, maybe at classes or whatever. And maybe if they consider me a fighter at the time, I would be with all the groups at the same time.

[Dana Boulut]

So the most correct answer is you had friends from all groups, but you're saying that you didn't belong to any one group in particular?

[Hassan Diab]

Yeah. Correct. Yeah.

[Dana Boulut]

All right. Because sometimes, Hassan, it's hard to get you to answer yes or no.

[Hassan Diab]

Oh, well, you have to explain because the situation in Beirut, it's really. It's not yes or no.

[Alex Atack]

While our conversations with Hassan circled a lot around the civil war, it was really just a few months that are at the heart of this story. The summer and autumn of 1980, from August to October, when the bombing in Paris took place.

[Dana Boulut]

According to the French narrative, in this window of time, Hassan took a trip to Greece, then came back to Beirut, then traveled to Europe and committed the attack on Copernic Street. As we said in the last episode, key to their claim here is Hassan Diab's passport, which was found in the possession of somebody from the PFLPOs, the militant group they believed carried out the bombing. And the passport had entry and exit stamps that lined up with the date of the attack.

[Alex Atack]

I want to ask about the passport. When I was in France, speaking to people there, including magistrates, this is the strongest piece of evidence for them. This is the thing they bring up and point to the most. Tell us what the story with the passport is from your perspective.

[Hassan Diab]

You know, I suppose that I lost it. And after I came back from Greece.

[Dana Boulut]

This was the summer of 1980, a few months before the attack in Paris.

[Alex Atack]

So you were in Greece on vacation?

[Hassan Diab]

On vacation with Noel Nawal and her family. Because her father had a house in Athens. He used to work for an American company, so he had a big house in Athens. And they would go and visit him every summer. And I would go with them. Then I came back, apparently, here. I lost the bag. Noel bought it for me, a leather bag. And I put my stuff in it. I forgot, May, that the passport was in it. There were other documents, school papers and stuff like that, the university things. It was a nice leather bag, you know, first leather bag in my life.

[Alex Atack]

Back home in Lebanon. Hassan said that one day he strapped his bag to the back of his motorcycle and started driving between his house and his university.

[Hassan Diab]

Apparently it fell. I didn't feel it then I arrived. Where's the bag? I didn't find the bag. Go back. Didn't find the bag. Somebody, of course, took it over because it's a crowded area, right? It's not a big deal. And that was that. And I didn't think of it until way later on.

[Alex Atack]

He says he didn't think about it or even notice that his passport was missing until a few years later.

[Hassan Diab]

You know, it was during this crazy war in Beirut. Like, you move from one place to another and you don't think a lot of so many things. Okay, where's the passport? You don't find it in Lebanon. At the time, it wasn't a big deal. We were, you know, not well organized.

[Alex Atack]

When he did notice it was missing, he says he didn't report it straight away.

[Hassan Diab]

That's a stupid thing to say. Like, you know, you don't report anything in the civil war. They would laugh at you if you go to the police station to report something, the police would laugh at you. If you come to say, oh, they say, you see, the people are getting killed in the streets and you want me to look for your passport. It would look like super ridiculous.

[Dana Boulut]

One question at the core of this investigation is where was Hassan Diab on October 3, 1980, the night of the attack? According to him, he was in Beirut studying for his exams. And years later, students who studied for the same exams came forward and said they remembered him in Beirut at the time and that they did not remember him being involved in any political groups on campus. Also, old university records confirmed that the exams took place in September and October 1980, and that he passed those exams. And Noel Gupti remembers him being in Beirut at the time.

[Nawal Kupti]

So I got an acceptance to pursue a master's in computer science at the University of Aston in Birmingham. And the year started September October 1980. So I was going to go and study there and my dad accompanied me there because he wanted to make sure I get settled and made sure everything is working for me there. And we went together to the airport to take a plane to London. And Hassan was driving the car at the time.

[Alex Atack]

Nawal Khopti flew to the UK on September 28. There is evidence she took this trip. Stamps from her passport confirm it. But according to the French authorities, the bomber had already entered Europe on September 20th. So if Hassan Diab had driven the Waalcopte to the airport on the 28th, their version of events was impossible. This is Hassan Diab's defence, supported by his girlfriend at the time. Old university records and fellow students.

[Dana Boulut]

After Hassan graduated from the Lebanese University with a master's in sociology, he worked as a math teacher, then as a statistician at the Central bank of Lebanon. As the civil war raged ON throughout the 1980s, tens of thousands of people left the country. And in the summer of 1987, so did Nawal and Hassan.

[Nawal Kupti]

We both wanted to study in the United States. He wanted to continue his studies in sociology, and I wanted to continue my studies in computer science. And at the time, my parents were like, oh, you're going to go together and study at Syracuse University. How are you going to be living together? So for that reason, we decided to get married and then go together to the United States.

[Dana Boulut]

Hassan Diab and Nawal Kupti got married in Cyprus before landing in Syracuse, New York in 1987. They began settling into their new lives, starting new classes, finding their feet in a new country, and making new friends. Had you ever met a person from Lebanon before?

[Hassan Diab]

That was my first.

[Dana Boulut]

Dawn Pratt was one of Hassan Diab's first friends at Syracuse University. They were enrolled in the same sociology program.

[Hassan Diab]

You know, we'd hang out, drink, talk about things happening in the world, talk about our studies.

[Dana Boulut]

And he was a very warm and gregarious person.

[Hassan Diab]

So everybody, including me, naturally gravitated to him. Yeah, a fun guy. We would have. The students in the department would have parties. There was one lady in particular who.

[Dana Boulut]

Had a nice house, and she would.

[Hassan Diab]

Invite people over, and at some point, people would start dancing and, oh, boy, did he want to dance. Yeah, he was. Yeah, he got the attention of a number of the ladies.

[Dana Boulut]

But while he was making the most of his social life at university, Hassan Diab's private life wasn't going so well. By the early 1990s, his relationship with Nawal, which had thrived in the intensity of wartime Beirut, was struggling in this new environment. They started to drift apart, and before long, divorced. And as for Don, well, obviously you and Nawal developed a relationship after their divorce. Did you ever talk to Hassan, like, hey, I'm attracted to your ex wife. Is it okay with you if I pursue her?

[Hassan Diab]

I don't know if we ever really talked. I think there was, you know, obviously there were some growing awkwardness. We actually, I think, drifted apart as.

[Dana Boulut]

Friends, you know, I think that was just too awkward for everybody. After university, Hassan and Noel went their separate ways, while Noel and Don grew closer. But Noel would check in on Hassan from time to time.

[Hassan Diab]

She was still in touch, and she was totally transparent about that. I kind of knew what was going on with his life, you know, his various academic appointments and things like that, maybe some aspects of his personal life. And I was supportive.

[Dana Boulut]

I would say I never stopped liking him.

[Hassan Diab]

I felt, you know, this is really awkward and gosh, I'm kind of an interloper and stuff, but I never really stopped liking him because he was always a great guy.

[Alex Atack]

Nawal and Don continued their relationship after university. Eventually they both got jobs in California and married. After moving there together, Hassan Diab moved on with his life too. He had other relationships and two children. For what it's worth, when questioned by police, one of his ex partners was adamant that the person she knew would never have been involved in an attack like the Copernic bombing. After Hasan finished his PhD, he taught at universities in Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates before settling back in New York.

[Hassan Diab]

And then 911 happened a few months after I arrived. The atmosphere, it was Middle east phobia.

[Alex Atack]

As Islamophobia intensified in America, Hassan Diab considered moving out of the country. He applied for various teaching jobs and eventually ended up in Canada. He met and married his current wife, Rania. By 2007, Hassan Diab had fallen into the quiet life of a university professor living in Ottawa and was blissfully unaware that halfway across the world, a French investigative judge was building a case against him, hoping to bring him to Paris to stand trial for murder.

[Dana Boulut]

While I was in Canada, Hassan took me to the University of Ottawa where he used to teach. I asked about his life as a professor and tried to keep up as he sped through the corridors. So if I came to you and I said, my dog ate my homework, what would you do?

[Hassan Diab]

I would say, could you bring me your dog because I have so many papers to get rid of.

[Dana Boulut]

We found the room we were looking for. The classroom was locked, so we stood outside and peered in through a small window. How does it feel, Hassan, to look?

[Hassan Diab]

Wow, you know, that's the first time I have come back after this thing 16 years ago. Exactly.

[Dana Boulut]

What is that?

[Hassan Diab]

Scary.

[Dana Boulut]

This is the exact spot where his life changed forever nearly two decades ago as he finished up a lecture on Social Psychology.

[Hassan Diab]

125 registered students in that class, which was a big auditorium for the most.

[Dana Boulut]

Part, he knew everyone in the room. But there was one man sitting in the back row by the window who Hassan hadn't seen before.

[Hassan Diab]

He looks different, but sometimes people would come to my class with their friends. I didn't care much, so I thought maybe he was one of these people coming with someone else.

[Dana Boulut]

He didn't Think much of it until the end of the class. Everybody started packing up their things and a few students stayed behind to ask questions. And this man, he waited too, maybe.

[Hassan Diab]

Five students waiting to finish with. They had some questions and he asked something above everybody else. I said, could you wait please, Phil on until I finish with the students? He said, I have something to ask you.

[Alex Atack]

The man was a journalist called Jean Chichizola. He worked at Le Figaro newspaper in France and he'd flown all the way from Paris to Ottawa to speak to Hassan Diab. Once the students were out of the room, Jean Chichizola broke the news. French authorities thought Hassan was the person behind the attack on the Kopenik Synagogue in 1980. Later, Chi Chizola would say that Hassan didn't seem surprised by these allegations. But Hassan remembers it differently.

[Hassan Diab]

It was like the biggest, one of the biggest shocks in my life. Like what?

[Dana Boulut]

Hasan said he thought the whole thing was a joke.

[Hassan Diab]

Then here I started thinking of, ah, that's a part of a candid camera.

[Dana Boulut]

The reporter asked where he was in 1980 and about the PFL positive. Hassan became frustrated with his questions and began walking back from the lecture hall to his office. Jean Chichizola walked with him. We reached out to Jean Chichizola many times for this podcast. He repeatedly declined our request for an interview.

[Hassan Diab]

I told him, that's enough, you know, enough from you. Thank you very much. If there is anything I'm available, I will be facing any charges or any allegations or anything because I have nothing to hide.

[Alex Atack]

Hasan took Shon Chichizola's business card and then got on his bike and cycled home. He says he was sure there was a simple explanation here, a case of mistaken identity. His name, Hassan Diab, is kind of like John Smith in Lebanon. It's super common. Even one of Lebanon's former prime ministers is called Hassan Diablo.

[Dana Boulut]

So as he made his way home that day in 2007, he says he thought this is just some kind of mix up. It'll blow over. He put the French reporter out of.

[Hassan Diab]

His mind, riding back from Ottawa, in downtown on the canal and thinking of this over and over and over. What's going on here? Is this fake? Is this a story? It's, you know, I tried to play all the scenarios, but I said, who cares, you know, let him go anywhere he wants to go. And I forgot about him.

[Dana Boulut]

Jean Chichizola had not confused Hassan Diab with someone else. After that encounter, he started to feel he was being watched.

[Hassan Diab]

We started seeing Something very unusual. People trying to break into our condo in the previous place. We caught the person by chance. What are you doing? Oh, sorry, I made a mistake, you know, I was going to another floor, said, which one? He didn't have any idea. I said, there's something fishy going on here.

[Dana Boulut]

He called the police and filed several complaints, but no one responded. He and Rania tried to carry on as normal. They thought maybe they were just being paranoid. Until November 13, 2008.

[Hassan Diab]

I was ready to go for my morning jogging. And before I put my shoes on, then I hear big knock on the door. I open the door and I see all this SWAT team. Like, I thought again, there's a movie here. Maybe they are shooting a movie. And kept looking at them in shock, like, what's going on? Yeah, it was a big, big shock. Like when I realized these were no, really police and with guns and said, goodness me, I have my T shirt and nothing. I had nothing else. I said, what is going on? Now there is something big.

[Alex Atack]

Hassan Diab was taken to the Ottawa Carlton Detention center, ocdc. At first he was put in solitary confinement, and then after a month, he was moved into the general population. The same day Hassan Diab was whisked away from his home, Nawal Kopti and Don Pratt's lives were pulled back into his orbit.

[Nawal Kupti]

An FBI agent knocked at my door here in California and handed me a letter, and he's saying, we want you to come and answer questions.

[Dana Boulut]

Mark Trevdick, the investigating judge, had flown from France to California. He wanted to interview Noel Gupti in person, but her lawyer had reservations.

[Nawal Kupti]

He was extremely concerned. He said, these are awful charges and you better protect yourself. When I did go to answer questions, he said, just plead the Fifth. Don't answer anything.

[Dana Boulut]

Why do you think he gave you that advice?

[Nawal Kupti]

Because he knew the charges were extremely serious. He had no knowledge of the case or even if I had any role in the case. He wanted to protect me as his client. And he said, let's just refuse to answer any questions. Looking back, I think that was a mistake because the person interviewing me at the time was Mark Trevedique. And I think by not answering questions, he got really upset and maybe he thought that I had something to hide.

[Dana Boulut]

Nawal Kupti's decision to remain silent during this interview actually might have done more harm than good to Hasan Diab's case.

[Nawal Kupti]

So I think it was not a good idea at all not to answer.

[Dana Boulut]

Questions, given she was Hassan's girlfriend during that summer of 1980 Nawal was an obvious person to attest to his innocence. And she wasn't talking.

[Hassan Diab]

I was disappointed because she was a witness. I had no intention to prosecute her. She was really a mere witness. And all the questions were about Asandiam. So I was very, very surprised to hear that she invoked the Fifth Amendment. It was very strange.

[Dana Boulut]

Did it make you feel. I don't know, did it make you more suspicious or how did it.

[Hassan Diab]

Of course, of course. Because really, really, I try to explain. I say, if you have something to say for Assania, that's a moment. It's official. So of course it made me more suspicious.

[Dana Boulut]

Okay, so we just finished six hours interviewing Hassan. We got there, yeah, more than six hours of interviews, just in one place, in one room. Two little bathroom breaks and that was it. No one ate, no one drank. It was crazy. We had some water, actually. But yeah, it was intense. After my trip to Ottawa, I still didn't know what to think. I found Hassan Diab's account of his life compelling, but it was also so complex. Talks and long stories. Everything is a story. And I wasn't exactly coming back with the straightforward answers I'd gone looking for. So, anyway, that's where we're at. But, yeah, I don't know, it was a lot.

[Alex Atack]

Hassan Diab's version of the story was dense. He rarely gave us yes or no answers. This could just be, as he said, because nothing is yes or no when it comes to growing up in wartime Beirut. And I feel like anyone who'd been subject to decades long investigations, imprisonment, surveillance, their answers might also be dense, maybe a little scattershot. But people we spoke to in France would point to this, to Hassan's demeanour, and say, look, this guy isn't trustworthy.

[Dana Boulut]

Hassan Diab sat in prison in Ottawa while Mark Travic continued with his investigation in Paris. The French were closer than they'd ever been to convicting someone for the Copernic synagogue attack. But first, a Canadian judge would need to sign off on the extradition request. Coming up on the Copernic affair. As the Ontario Superior Court inches closer towards a final decision in the extradition case of Hassan Diab, public pressure intensifies.

[Hassan Diab]

To have a terrorist in our midst. In quiet old Ottawa. I was actually disgusting.

[Dana Boulut]

Never occurred to you that he might not be innocent? Never. It's impossible. I felt sure deep inside I trusted.

[Hassan Diab]

My gut feelings that this is an.

[Dana Boulut]

Innocent man and we need to support him. You're getting a bit emotional.

[Nawal Kupti]

I am, I am, yeah.

[Dana Boulut]

No, it was hard to watch. It was definitely hard to watch.

[Hassan Diab]

I thought, okay, now the judge is going to make things right. Because that's what judges are supposed to do.

[Alex Atack]

The Copernic Affair is a production of Canadaland in partnership with House of Many Windows. The series is written and produced by me, Alex Atack and Dana Belloute. Our editor is Julie Shapiro. Additional production by Nour Azriyeh Additional research, production and translation support by Katherine Bennett Sound design and mixing by Resonant Fields Audio Original music by the Tiebreakers. Our artwork is by Tony Wong. Our executive producers are Jesse Brown and Judy Shapiro, and Jesse Brown is Candaland's publisher and editor. Special thanks this episode to Jonathan Najerian and George Azar. If you can't wait to find out what happens next, become a [e-mail] join to listen to every episode of the Copernic Affair early and ad free right now. You'll also be helping vital independent journalism along the way. You can also listen early and ad free by subscribing to the Canadaland beyond channel, on Apple Podcasts or on Amazon Music included with Prime. Thank you for listening. If you want to help, the best thing you can do is to spread the word, let people know about the show, share it on social and encourage people to support work like ours.

[Dana Boulut]

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