Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou thanks supporters as lawyers chase details of Canadian cooperation with FBI
- Social media post after first day of hearing describes support as ‘sunshine shining into my heart’
- Legal team pursues documents relating to arrest; crown’s lawyers call it a ‘fishing expedition’
Sabrina Meng Wanzhou said she was thankful for the support she had received, following the opening day of a Vancouver court hearing in which her lawyers are attempting to fend off a US request for her extradition.
The Huawei chief financial officer posted a message on her social media account on Tuesday, saying she was “thankful to the support during the rain and storm, which is the sunshine shining into my heart”, the Global Times newspaper reported.
Lawyers for Meng on Monday accused Canadian border officers of conducting a “covert criminal investigation” into her, as they focused on documents relating to Meng’s arrest at Vancouver’s airport on December 1, on a stopover from Hong Kong on her way to Mexico.
The hearing, in the British Columbia Supreme Court before Justice Heather Holmes, is due to last eight days.
Meng’s legal team spent most of the hearing pursuing the disclosure of further documents they believe may exist relating to her arrest; the crown’s lawyers said that the requests amounted to a “fishing expedition” and that it has already satisfied document disclosure requirements.
Lawyer Richard Peck, acting for Meng, accused Canadian border officers of having “made efforts to obscure” interactions between the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation that showed they were gathering evidence for Meng’s prosecution, and not simply conducting an admissibility exam for immigration purposes.