Is Hassan Diab a terrorist or a scapegoat?

The Copernic Affair

Hosted by Dana Ballout and Alex Atack

The Copernic Affair is coming January 22nd.

The life of an unassuming sociology professor in Canada gets turned upside down when he is accused of carrying out a 1980 bomb attack on a synagogue in Paris. Hassan Diab says he’s innocent — but French investigators are determined to prove otherwise.

What follows is a decades-long story about the pursuit of justice, wild reversals of fortune, and lives torn apart. On one side is a French court in dogged pursuit of justice for a devastating attack on Paris’s Jewish community. On the other, an ordinary man who maintains his innocence.

In the first podcast investigation into this case, journalists Dana Ballout and Alex Atack present exclusive interviews, rich archival material, and extensive original reporting, taking listeners through the twists and turns of this extraordinary story, all the while trying to answer the questions:

Is Hassan Diab guilty, or is he a scapegoat? And what if one person’s justice means committing an injustice to another?

Latest Episodes

#6 The Trial

Back in Canada, Hassan Diab’s life is hanging in limbo. He may be arrested at any moment, and Canada’s government won’t ensure his safety. What does justice mean for the victims of the Copernic attack, and what does it mean for Diab and his supporters?
February 19, 2025

#5 The Detention

Hassan Diab faces a new reality in Europe’s largest maximum security prison. But when Marc Trévidic is replaced by new investigative judges, the case is thrown into uncertainty - and Hassan's fortunes begin to shift.
February 12, 2025

#4 The Extradition

France requests that Hassan be brought to Paris to stand trial. One of Canada’s most respected lawyers takes the case and fights the extradition. As the hearings drag on for years, more people start to question the French evidence against Diab.
February 5, 2025

#3 The Professor

Hassan Diab, a sociology professor living in Ottawa, is finishing up his classes for the day when he learns that he is the primary suspect in France’s investigation into the Copernic synagogue bombing. At first, he doesn't believe this. But he begins to sense that he’s being surveilled. Then early one morning, he hears an unexpected knock on his door.
January 29, 2025

#2 The Investigation

After decades of dead ends, a young and ambitious judge - known for finding new ways to interpret old evidence - takes over the Copernic synagogue case. He narrows his search down to one man who he finds living a quiet life in the capital city of Canada.
January 22, 2025

#1 The Attack

Just before 6:30 pm on October 3rd, 1980, Oron Shagrir’s mother, Aliza, was walking down Rue Copernic in Paris, looking to buy some figs. Minutes later, she was killed, along with three others, in an explosion that still haunts France today.
January 22, 2025

The Copernic Affair (Official Trailer)

November 4, 2024