bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

A Chinese court adjourned a hearing of a Canadian man’s appeal against his death sentence for drug smuggling without a decision on Thursday in a case that has deepened a diplomatic spat between Beijing and Ottawa.
Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, 36, was sentenced to death in January after a court deemed his previous 15-year prison sentence too lenient.
His appeal hearing came a day after a top executive of Chinese telecom company Huawei, Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, appeared in court in Canada to fight a US extradition bid that triggered the diplomatic storm.
The Liaoning High People’s Court in northeast China said in a statement that “all procedural rights of appellant Schellenberg were guaranteed in accordance with the law”.




The trial has adjourned and the court will “select a day or time to pronounce the sentence”, it said without specifying.
Schellenberg’s case is seen as potential leverage for Meng, who was arrested on a US extradition request related to Iran sanctions violations – a link that Beijing has repeatedly denied.
Following the Huawei executive’s arrest in December, China detained former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor, in what observers saw as retaliation.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that China had “chosen to arbitrarily” sentence Schellenberg to death. His government has pleaded for clemency.




Ottawa said on Wednesday it was “extremely concerned that China has chosen to apply the death penalty, a cruel and inhumane punishment”. Canadian officials were expected to attend Thursday’s hearing.
Schellenberg was originally sentenced to 15 years in prison and a 150,000 yuan (US$22,000) forfeiture in November.
But following an appeal, the high court in Liaoning ruled in December that the sentence was too lenient given the severity of his crimes.
About a month later, his sentence was changed to capital punishment.
China has executed foreigners for drug-related crimes in the past, including a Japanese national in 2014, a Filipina in 2013 and a Briton in 2009.




Last week another Canadian, Fan Wei, was sentenced to death for drug trafficking in a separate case in southern China.
Kovrig and Spavor, meanwhile, have been denied access to lawyers and are allowed only monthly consular visits.
Days after Canada launched the extradition process against Meng in March, China announced it suspected Kovrig of spying and stealing state secrets. It alleged fellow Canadian Spavor had provided him with intelligence.
Meanwhile, Huawei’s Meng was back in court in Vancouver on Wednesday, with her lawyers arguing that the US case was politically motivated. Her firm says she is innocent.
Huawei is also in the US crosshairs as Washington seeks to convince Western nations to shun the telecom firm over security concerns.
The diplomatic row appears to have has spilled over into the economic arena: China has banned Canadian canola and pork shipments worth billions of dollars.
Ottawa has pressed Washington, which is locked in a trade dispute with China, to step up its pressure on behalf of the detained Canadians.


Takaichi’s anti-China stance won’t bolster Japan’s security

Will tourism slump force Trump to rethink his unilateral approach?

Why Takaichi’s Japan election victory has sparked North Korea’s ‘childish’ fury

Tumbler Ridge grieves for 8 killed in Canada’s deadliest shooting in years

Canada

Chinese court delays ruling on Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg’s death penalty appeal

January’s retrial of Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg deepened the diplomatic spat between Beijing and Ottawa. Photo: AFP

Canadian Robert Schellenberg sentenced to death in China for drug trafficking, PM Justin Trudeau vows to ‘intercede’

FILE PHOTO: Canadian businessman Michael Spavor arrives next to the former NBA basketball player Dennis Rodman (not pictured) after a trip to North Korea, at Beijing Capital International Airport, Beijing, China Jan. 13, 2014. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo

This photograph taken and released by the Intermediate Peoples' Court of Dalian on January 14, 2019 shows Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg (C) during his retrial on drug trafficking charges in the court in Dalian in China's northeast Liaoning province. - The court sentenced Schellenberg to death on drug trafficking charges on January 14, 2019 after his previous 15-year prison sentence was deemed too lenient, a ruling that has deepened a diplomatic rift between Ottawa and Beijing. (Photo by HANDOUT / Intermediate Peoples' Court of Dalian / AFP) / -----EDITORS NOTE --- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Intermediate Peoples' Court of Dalian" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS - NO ARCHIVES

(FILES) In this file photo an undated picture released on December 11, 2018 in Washington by the International Crisis Group shows former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig. - A Canadian former diplomat held by China was granted a second consular visit January 10, 2019, as more nations backed Ottawa's demand that he and a detained compatriot be released."Today, Canadian consular officials in China visited with Michael Kovrig," said a brief statement from Canada's foreign ministry. No details of his condition were provided due to Canadian privacy laws, but officials said they would press for further access to both him and businessman Michael Spavor. (Photo by Julie DAVID DE LOSSY / CRISIGROUP / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / CRISISGROUP/Julie David de Lossy" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

A general view of the Intermediate People's Court of Dalian, where the trial for Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, a Canadian citizen on drug smuggling charges, will be held, in Liaoning province, China January 14, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. CHINA OUT.

This photo released by the Intermediate Peoples' Court of Dalian on Monday shows Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg during his retrial on drug trafficking charges. Photo: AFP

China-based diplomats warn case of detained Canadians Kovrig and Spavor is ‘Sword of Damocles’ hanging over their heads

Chinese-based diplomats fear Michael Kovrig will be questioned about his work for Canada’s foreign ministry. Photo: AP

(FILES) This undated picture, provided to AFP by Simeon Garratt, Canadian Christian activists Kevin Garratt and Julia Dawn Garratt's son, shows (L-R) Simeon's brother Peter, Julia Dawn Garratt, Kevin Garratt, and Simeon's sister Hannah, posing for a family photo. A Canadian man arrested in China on charges of spying and stealing state secrets has been freed and is back home in Canada, his family said Thursday. Kevin Garratt was detained in 2014 along with his wife, who was later released on bail, in the northeastern Chinese city of Dandong, on the border with North Korea. / AFP PHOTO / SIMEON GARRATT / SIMEON GARRATT

FILE - In this file image made from a March 2, 2017, video, Michael Spavor, director of Paektu Cultural Exchange, talks during a Skype interview in Yanji, China. More than 100 academics and former diplomats are calling on China to release two Canadians, Spavor and Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, who have been detained in apparent retaliation for the arrest of a top Chinese tech executive in Canada. (AP Photo, File)

People hold signs calling for China to release Canadian detainees Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig during an extradition hearing for Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou at the B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, March 6, 2019. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson

FILE PHOTO: Huawei Technologies Co Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou arrives back at home after her court appearance in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, March 6, 2019. REUTERS/Ben Nelms/File Photo

Is she their prisoner or their boss? Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou’s private jailers act like bodyguards, obstructing and photographing journalists

Huawei's CFO Meng Wanzhou leaves her home in Vancouver, accompanied by a guard from Lions Gate Risk Management, on March 6. Photo: EPA

Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, right, waves goodbye to visitors at her home in Vancouver on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018. A Canadian court on Tuesday released Meng on bail, confining her to Vancouver and its suburbs while she awaits possible extradition to the United States. The U.S. has accused Huawei, the biggest global supplier of network gear for phone and internet companies, of using a shell company to do business with Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press via AP)

Bernie Madoff (left) exits a New York court with his bail monitor, Nick Casale, in 2009. Photo: Casale Associates

South China Morning Post reporter Ian Young (right) introduces himself to one of Meng Wanzhou's guards at the rear of her home in Vancouver on March 9, 2019. Photo: KBS

Members of a private security firm stand outside of the family home of Huawei's financial chief Meng Wanzhou, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, January 28, 2019. REUTERS/Ben Nelms

Huawei's CFO Meng Wanzhou leaves her home in Vancouver, accompanied by a guard from Lions Gate Risk Management, on March 6. Photo: Reuters

News

China

Diplomacy

He was sentenced to death in January after a court ruled his 15-year prison sentence for drug smuggling was too lenient
The resentencing – which Canada called arbitrary and inhumane – followed the arrest in Vancouver of Huawei executive Sabrina Meng Wanzhou


He was sentenced to death in January after a court ruled his 15-year prison sentence for drug smuggling was too lenient – prompting Canada to call his punishment arbitrary and inhumane.


Crime in China

Meng Wanzhou