China upholds Canadian's death sentence as Huawei case looms
A Chinese court on Tuesday rejected a Canadian drug convict's appeal of a death sentence in what appeared to be an effort to step up pressure on Canada to release a detained executive of tech giant Huawei.
The Canadian government condemned the ruling and appealed to
China to grant clemency to Robert Schellenberg. His sentence was abruptly
increased from a 15-year prison term to death after the Dec. 1, 2018, arrest of
Meng Wanzhou on U.S. charges related to possible dealings with Iran.
In separate cases, two other Canadians, a former diplomat
and an entrepreneur, were arrested on spying charges as China demanded Meng's
release.
The Higher People’s Court of Liaoning Province in the northeast
rejected Schellenberg's appeal and sent the case to the Chinese supreme court
for review, as is required by law before death sentences can be carried out.
“We condemn the verdict in the strongest possible terms and
call on China to grant Robert clemency,” the Canadian ambassador to Beijing,
Dominic Barton, told reporters. He criticized the penalty as “cruel and
inhumane.”
“His retrial and subsequent sentence were arbitrary,"
Barton said by phone from the northeastern city of Shenyang, where he attended
the appeals court hearing.
Schellenberg was convicted of smuggling 222 kilograms (448
pounds) of methamphetamine, according to the court. He was sentenced in
November 2018 to 15 years and resentenced to death in January 2019 after a
one-day retrial.
Former diplomat Michael Kovrig, and a Canadian entrepreneur,
Michael Spavor, were detained in December 2018 and later charged with spying.
A Canadian judge will hear final arguments in the next few
weeks over whether Meng should be extradited. She has been living under house
arrest in Vancouver.
Canada is, along with Australia and the Philippines, among a
growing group of countries that face arrests of their citizens, trade boycotts
and other pressure from Beijing over political disputes.
The United States and other governments have warned their
citizens of a “heightened risk of arbitrary detention” in China for purposes
other than law enforcement.
Barton said he would travel later Tuesday to the
northeastern city of Dandong to see Spavor.
Asked when a ruling in Spavor's case might come, Barton
said, “our sense is, it’s tomorrow.” As for Kovrig, the ambassador said, “we
have not received any indication of that.”
Asked whether the three cases were linked to Meng's, Barton
said, “I don’t think it’s a coincidence these are happening right now while
events are going on in Vancouver.” He said the case was “part of the
geopolotical process of what is happening.”
The ambassador said Canadian diplomats talked with
Schellenberg after the ruling but declined to give details.
“He is remarkably composed,” Barton said. “We had a good
conversation."
Diplomats from the United States, Germany, Australia and
France attended Tuesday's hearing, according to Barton. He expressed thanks to
them and to other governments for expressing support for Canada.
Two other Canadians, Fan Wei and Xu Weihong, also were
sentenced to death on drug charges in separate cases in 2019 as relations
between Beijing and Ottawa deteriorated.
The United States wants the Huawei executive, Meng, who is
the company founder's daughter, extradited to face charges she lied to banks in
Hong Kong in connection with dealings with Iran that might violate trade
sanctions.
The Chinese government has criticized the case as a
political motivated attempt to hamper the country's industry development.
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