Middle East studies in the News

Lone Officer's Questioning of Diab Legal: Law Expert [on Hassan Diab]

by Matthew Pearson
The Ottawa Citizen
November 21, 2008

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=6dec3ee1-acea-462c-a9b1-841138254ee9

http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/6350

The RCMP played fairly last weekend when they sent a lone female officer to visit Hassan Diab in jail without the presence of the man's lawyer.

According to University of Ottawa law professor David Paciocco, authorities in Canada can, and often do, interrogate people in custody without representation.

"We don't have a rule that they have to notify or have in attendance the lawyer," Mr. Paciocco said. "All that's required is that the accused is told the first time they are detained that they have a right to counsel."

René Duval, a lawyer representing Mr. Diab, said the officer who tried to question his client at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre was trying to elicit information from him by being nice.

That, too, is fairly common, Mr. Paciocco said.

"Trying to play on somebody's conscience or basically trying to make them comfortable enough that they make the mistake of opening up is not considered to be inappropriate, it's just good police work."

Note: Articles listed under "Middle East studies in the News" provide information on current developments concerning Middle East studies on North American campuses. These reports do not necessarily reflect the views of Campus Watch and do not necessarily correspond to Campus Watch's critique.

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