Canada will proceed with extradition hearing for Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou, legal experts say
- Law professor says she can see no reason why process should not begin
- Extradition expert agrees but believes the decision would be ‘very foolish’
Canada was likely to announce on Friday that an extradition hearing involving a Huawei Technologies executive can proceed, legal experts said, worsening already strained relations with China.
Police arrested Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, the telecommunication company’s chief financial officer, in Vancouver in December at the request of the US. In January, the US Justice Department charged Huawei and Meng with conspiring to violate sanctions on Iran.
Ottawa has until midnight local time on Friday (0500 GMT on Saturday) to announce whether it will allow a court in British Columbia to begin a formal extradition hearing.
Joanna Harrington, a law professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, said officials were most likely to approve the move.
“I have no reason to see why they wouldn’t,” she said. “There is an ongoing, long-standing extradition relationship between the United States and Canada.
“The United States is a country with which we share a legal culture” and which Canada trusted, said Harrington, a human rights law specialist.
