From Dreyfus to Diab: Trial by Pattern

Perhaps a comparison of the Dreyfus Affair (1894-1906) with the case of Hassan Diab (2008-ongoing) is in order, given the lack of evidence in each instance.  Oddly, both now share a pre-occupation with “handwriting”; both see no need to look further than to a certain fixed ‘other’ (Alfred Dreyfus a Jew, Diab a Lebanese-born Arab, now Canadian citizen); both represent never-ending Trials for the individual and respective families; and, both are miscarriages of Justice by the French state – and in Diab’s case, by the Canadian state, as well. “E pur si muove” (as Galileo put it, at the end of his Trial).