I was on a radio show in Ottawa yesterday opposing the decision by the administration of Carleton University to fire Hassan Diab. There were several challenges involved for me, both with deciding to appear on the Gerry Cammy Show and with the opposition to Diab’s dismissal.

Gerry, who is a friend of mine in spite of the fact that he is a conservative, invited me to appear on the show two weeks ago. I initially refused. Rania Tfaily, Hassan Diab’s wife, later asked me to do so. I appeared with two other guests. Eric Vernon is a senior staff member for Canadian Jewish Congress in Ottawa. Ian Lee is Director of MBA programs at Carleton University.

Professor Hassan Diab

Hassan Diab holds a PhD in the sociology of conflict. He has been accused of bombing a Parisian synagogue in 1980. The French government has requested his extradition. Diab is on bail under strict conditions. His bail conditions permit him to work. Peter Gose, who is the head of the sociology department at Carleton, hired Hassan as a locum (the assigned instructor became ill) to teach an introductory course in sociology.

B’nai Brith Canada issued a press release condemning the decision to hire Diab. He was promptly dismissed. B’nai Brith did not appear on the Gerry Cammy Show to defend its position. That’s good, because the B’nai Brith position is indefensible and had they appeared they would have only unreasonably said what Ian and Eric reasonably did.

Dr Roseann O'Rielly Runte is Prresident of Carleton University

Ian Lee is quite enamoured of the rapid response the Carleton administration took in dismissing Diab. I am not of that opinion. I will say that Dr Runte, Carleton’s president, is a remarkable and principled administrator. She is not afraid of controversy.

The discussion of Diab’s dismissal can be summed up quickly: He should not have been hired in the first place. Strangely enough, I agree — but he was hired. He deserved a chance. He was on a temporary contract for a summer course that lasted six weeks to teach the university equivalent of a course in advanced social studies.

What Diab has experienced is bad decisions made by good people, caring people who are well-motivated, if perhaps somewhat politically so. And that’s precisely the experience of five other Arab-Canadians.

Maher Arar

Maher Arar (born 1970) is a telecommunications engineer. He holds both Syrian and Canadian citizenship; he who lives in Canada. Arar was deported to Syria by the United States government during a layover at Kennedy Airport in September 2002. Arar has claimed he was tortured while in Syria. His experience has been put forward as an example of the United States government policy of extraordinary rendition. The United States government has continued its rendition program.

In spite of the fact that a Canadian commission of inquiry determined that Arar was tortured in Syria, the US government remains suspicious of Arar. The United States government has not exonerated him and publicly maintains the belief that Arar is affiliated with members of terrorist organisations.

Abdula Almalki

Abdullah Almalki is a Canadian engineer who was imprisoned for two years in a Syrian jail. In May 2002, Almalki arrived in Syria to visit his ill grandmother; it was first time he had been to Syria since childhood. Syrian authorities arrested him on suspicion of terrorist connections, based on information sent to the Syrians by the RCMP.

This past June the House of Commons public safety committee, by majority vote and with the Conservative government in dissent, urged an official apology and compensation to Almalki, and two others (see below).

The government has not complied with the committee’s vote.

Ahmad-Abou-Elmaati

Ahmad Abou El-Maati was arrested and detained for two and a half years in Syrian and Egyptian prisons. He is a Canadian citizen. There is credible evidence his brother is an Al-Qaeda member.

El Maati is one of three people the House of Commons public safety committee thinks is deserving of an apology and compensation. The others are Abdullah Almalki and Muayyed Nureddin (see below).

Muayyed Nureddin was imprisoned in similar circumstances to Maher Arar. Nureddin was interviewed by theCanadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) in 2000.

Pior to a September departure fromPearson International Airport in 2003, Nureddin was questioned by CSIS agents. He then flew to Amsterdam and Iraq. Three months later Nureddin left Iraq for Damascus,where he was to fly home to Toronto. He was instead detained at Iraq-Syria border and turned over to Syrian military intelligence, who allegedly tortured him and asked the same questions that CSIS had asked in Toronto.

Nureddin was released a month later and was flown home after debriefing by the Canadian ambassaor to Syria.

The cases of Khadr, Diab, Nureddin, Almalki and Elmaati are not all about racism — at least, they are not about the pernicious and pervasive racism of bigots. These men are all victims of being prejudged by Baird’s Ghost, a spectre that haunts the halls of Canadian government institutions and proclaims “None is too many“.