Canadian officers showed ‘flagrant disregard’ for Meng Wanzhou’s rights, then covered up with ‘absurd’ evidence, her lawyer says

Meng’s lawyer tells extradition hearing that US and Canada abused her rights, as news breaks that China will put two detained Canadians on trial within days

Government lawyers say there is no evidence of misconduct by the US, and that Canadian police and border officers did not abuse their powers

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Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei, leaves her home in Vancouver, British Columbia, to attend a court hearing on Wednesday. Photo: The Canadian Press via AP

Published: 2:40am, 18 Mar 2021Updated: 5:53am, 25 Dec 2021

US and Canadian authorities colluded in an illegal detention, search and interrogation of Meng Wanzhou, which they then tried to cover up in an abuse of process that can only be remedied by setting her free, a lawyer for the Huawei Technologies Co. executive told her extradition hearing on Wednesday.

In blistering opening remarks to the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Vancouver, Meng’s lawyer Tony Paisana accused Canadian border officers and police of showing “flagrant disregard” for her rights, then giving evidence that was “less than truthful” and even “absurd”.

The argument represents a key platform of Meng’s two-year battle to thwart the American bid to have her sent to New York to face fraud charges, in a case that has infuriated Beijing and spurred a monumental shift in Chinese relations with the US and Canada.

That was underscored when news broke during Wednesday’s proceedings that China had told Ottawa it would soon begin trials for two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, whom it accuses of espionage. Canada says they are the arbitrary victims of Chinese retaliation for Meng’s arrest.

Meng’s lawyers say Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers acted at the behest of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to covertly obtain evidence to support their fraud case.

But Canadian government lawyers representing US interests in the case said in a filing there was no evidence of US misconduct, and that Canadian police and border agents did not abuse their powers.