Canada Says Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou Receives Fair Extradition Proceedings Despite China's Sentences to Two Canadian Citizens
(Photo : DON MACKINNON/AFP via Getty Images)
CANADA-CHINA-US-COURT-EXTRADITION
Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou leaves her Vancouver home to attend her extradition hearing in British Columbia Supreme Court, on August 4, 2021, in Vancouver, Canada. - Meng is back in a Canadian court on for a final round of hearings on her possible extradition to the US, after nearly three years of court battles and diplomatic sparring. Meng, the daughter of company founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei, is fighting extradition to the US, which wants to try her for bank fraud and conspiracy for allegedly concealing her company's business dealings, through a subsidiary, in Iran. (Photo by Don MacKinnon / AFP) (Photo by DON MACKINNON/AFP via Getty Images)

Crown counsel Robert Frater told a British Columbia Supreme Court judge that the extradition process against Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou could not be fairer, rejecting the defense's request to stop the proceedings.

In the almost 19-month extradition proceedings against the executive of Huawei continued Tuesday with lawyers at the Attorney General of Canada (AGC) on behalf of the United States, it was argued before Associate Justice Heather Holmes that the defense of the Huawei executive is nothing but a concoction of mostly groundless statements, sometimes held loose together by "conspiracy theories."

Canada argues no misconduct in Huawei CFO's extradition proceedings

The legal team of Meng, which includes over half-dozen lawyers, argues that the US bid to bring her to justice on accusations of fraud in the South of the Border since she is the victim of a trial abuse, should be rejected. In the process, Meng's lawyer emphasized, in particular, Trump's December 2018 interview with Reuters, given only days after Meng's detention, in which he claimed that, if it were favorable for US national interests, he would interfere in the case filed against Meng by the Department of Justice.

On Monday, Richard Peck, Chief Legal Representative of Meng, said Trump was willing to "ransom" Meng in exchange for China's surrender in Washington and Beijing trade discussions. Frater disputed Peck's affirmation that the remarks of Trump were not a threat while emphasizing that the Biden administration remained on the extradition path, as per Big News Network.

A Canadian entrepreneur charged with espionage after his government detained a Huawei executive faces a possible verdict on Wednesday, as Beijing increases pressure on Canada ahead of a court decision on whether to hand over the executive to face criminal charges in the United States.

In what was described as "hostage politics" by opponents following the executive detention in 2018 in connection with suspected violations of trade restrictions on Iran, Michael Spavor and another Canadian were arrested in China. On Tuesday, a judge dismissed the appeal of the third Canadian with a sudden rise in the jail sentence in a drug case, after the detention of the executive, Republic World reported.

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Canadians verdict further strains Canada-China relations

The arrest has been denounced by China's leadership as part of US efforts to stifle its technological progress. Huawei, a network equipment and smartphone manufacturer is China's first global tech brand and is at the core of technological and security tensions between the US and China.

In a case involving Huawei, a Chinese court sentenced Canadian Michael Spavor to 11 years in prison for spying. Spavor was arrested in 2018 after a Chinese tech executive was jailed by his country.

Per NBC News, another Chinese court on Tuesday dismissed the appeal of a third Canadian, whose sentence in a drug case was unexpectedly raised to death after the executive's arrest. The session took place in Dandong, nearly 210 miles east of Beijing, near the North Korean border. Canadian Ambassador Dominic Barton was there. Former Canadian ambassador Michael Kovrig, who was also jailed in December 2018 and accused of spying, has yet to be granted a trial date.

Meng Wanzhou, Huawei Technologies Ltd.'s chief financial officer and the company's founder's daughter, was arrested in Vancouver on December 1, 2018, on US accusations of lying to the Hong Kong arm of the British bank HSBC about suspected transactions with Iran in violation of trade restrictions. China's government has condemned Meng's detention as part of a US campaign to stifle its technological growth and has urged that she be released immediately.

Related Article: China Court Rejects Canada's Appeal Against Death Sentence of Robert Schellenberg, a String of Judicial Cases Straining Beijing-Ottawa's Relations


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