The Copernic Affair | Canadaland Investigates
5.0/5
Critic Rating
“Thorough and absorbing” –Hannah J Davies, The Guardian“A fascinating tale masterfully told” –Fiona Sturges, The Financial TimesThe 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 heʼs innocent, but French investigators are determined to prove otherwise. Journalists Dana Ballout and Alex Atack take listeners through the twists and turns of this extraordinary story, all the while asking: Is Hassan Diab guilty, or is he a scapegoat? And what if one person’s justice means committing an injustice to another?The...
Critic Reviews
Score: 5
Lauren Passell • Podcast The Newsletter • Apr 21, 2025
"The Copernic Affair is a thorough, well-reported piece about Canadian sociology...It starts out quite emotionally...The Copernic Affair is meticulous, hosts Dana Ballout and Alex Atack interview Hassan and anyone close to him who they can find, to find out whether they can find out if he did it or not. Emotion pops up in other places, but what’s interesting is where emotion is included and left out."
Score: 5
Fiona Sturges • Financial Times • Feb 9, 2025
" Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour. https://www.ft.com/content/a94343fd-a06c-4459-9fcd-5b1fd359a1b0 This story isn’t purely about Diab’s guilt or innocence — the 2023 trial found him guilty in absentia; it considers, too, the bewilderingly slow-moving French justice system in which magistrates oversee criminal investigations and wield extraordinary power (credit to the podcast creators for extracting suspense from such a creaking system). It is also about a Jewish community left grieving and in limbo for decades. We may never know whether Diab really was the bomber, though this series deems the most recent case against him “circumstantial and weak”. The Copernic Affair is a fascinating tale masterfully told by its two hosts. And it may not be over yet. …"
Score: 5
Hannah J Davies • The Guardian • Jan 24, 2025
"Canadaland’s thorough and absorbing series hears Alex Atack (of the Guardian’s Today in Focus) and Dana Ballout investigate whether Hassan Diab was truly the mastermind of the deadly attack."
