Wenzhou Meng should remain in British Columbia at least until February. Her lawyer would then make three arguments to a Canadian judge against the woman’s extradition to the United States. This was the result of a court hearing last week. It is unusual for Canadian witnesses to hear these arguments and is a success for Meng’s lawyers.
Huawei Boss’ daughter is in Vancouver since December 2018. At the time, Meng was arrested while transferring to Vancouver International Airport because he had a US arrest warrant against him. Sugar opposes her innocence. Huawei’s chief financial officer was soon allowed to leave the Canadian prison. She is allowed to wait at her estate in Vancouver about her extradition decision and move around freely with ankle cuffs at least a day.
All three arguments
The first argument against his extradition came from US President Donald Trump. He has publicly spoken in public with the government of the Republic of China about Meng’s offer of freedom. In Meng’s view, it shows that the indictment is politically motivated.
Second, when Meng was arrested, Canadian authorities violated his rights. Defense attorneys alleged that Canadian authorities sent customs officials to the FBI to gather evidence. Canada has more extensive interrogation and search powers than customs police.
In fact, Meng was interrogated by customs for three hours and taken to reveal an access code for two cell phones. He was left in the dark about the arrest warrant and his imminent arrest. Finally, a custom officer illegally disclosed the access code to the police. The officer confirmed it in cross-examination this week, but presented the disclosure as an oversight.
Additional evidence
Third, lawyers want to convince the court that the reason for the US warrant is misleading. The US government attorney’s office accused Meng of misinforming banks about Huawei’s Iran trade to be able to circumvent the US trade embargo against Iran. This would be fraud, which is also illegal in Canada, although Embargo does not apply there. Meng says that he did not lie to banks and that Iran’s trade would not be a violation of embarrassment.
on Wednesday Canadian court authorized MengPresenting some supplementary evidence. This is not an everyday occurrence in extradition proceedings as the question of crime is not settled. This evidence is expected to be evaluated by another judge in February. In any case, Meng will remain in Vancouver until then.
(DS)
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