Defence tells Canada court that Huawei CFO's arrest was legal, but not her detainment
VANCOUVER - Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou’s arrest was valid, but her ongoing detainment is illegal, defence lawyers told a Canadian court on Wednesday, in a slight deviation from China’s official stance on the case.
Meng, 49, was arrested in December 2018 at Vancouver
International Airport on a warrant from the United States, where she faces
charges of bank fraud for allegedly misleading HSBC about Huawei Technologies
Co Ltd’s business dealings in Iran.
She maintains her innocence and is fighting extradition while
under house arrest in Vancouver.
Huawei lawyers have argued that Meng’s actions were so far
removed from the United States that the country has no legitimate jurisdiction
over them.
Prosecutors representing the Canadian government have argued
in court that Canada had no choice but to arrest Meng under treaty obligations
to the United States, given that there was an outstanding warrant for her
arrest.
Defence lawyer Gib van Ert said on Wednesday that he agreed
Canada had to arrest Meng, “having received what was, on its face, a bona fide
extradition request.”
But he said her continued detainment was illegal.
“There’s nothing about it that is an arbitrary detention,
but ... it is now revealed to be an unlawful detention,” van Ert said, pointing
to the defence allegation that the United States broke international law by
requesting her arrest.
China has said that it considers Meng’s arrest and possible
extradition illegal. In the aftermath of her being detained, China arrested two
Canadians on charges of espionage, which Canada has said it sees as
retaliation.
Meng’s case is set to conclude in May.
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