Justin Trudeau under high-profile pressure to end Huawei exec’s extradition, even if it rankles US

Name: China accuses detained Canadians of spying, following Huawei CFO extradition approval
Uploaded: 2020-06-25T04:48:03.000Z
Duration: 1 min 59 s
Description: China accuses detained Canadians of spying, following Huawei CFO extradition approval

Prime minister ‘must act’ to secure the freedom of two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, held in China since December 2018, letter says

Doing so ‘may irritate the US’, but ‘these are not normal times’, 19 prominent figures argue

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The letter urged Canada to halt extradition proceedings against Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou to hasten the release of Canadians Michael Spavor (left) and Michael Kovrig, who are detained in China. Photo: AFP

POLITICO

Published: 12:48pm, 25 Jun 2020Updated: 12:54pm, 25 Jun 2020

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Andy Blatchford on politico.com on June 23, 2020.

Justin Trudeau is under high-profile domestic pressure to halt the extradition process that could send Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou to the United States – a move that would almost certainly anger the White House.

Nineteen prominent Canadians – including a former Supreme Court justice, former foreign affairs ministers and former ambassadors to Washington – sent a letter to the prime minister dated Tuesday calling on him to instruct his justice minister, David Lametti, to free Meng. A copy of the letter was obtained by POLITICO.

The letter’s signatories argue that Trudeau must act to ensure the freedom of two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who were rounded up in China in December 2018, days after Meng’s arrest in Vancouver. Last week, Chinese authorities formally charged the men, known by many Canadians as the Two Michaels, with espionage.

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China accuses detained Canadians of spying, following Huawei CFO extradition approval

“We contend that the time is past due for the minister to do just that: to end the Meng extradition proceeding and to bring the Two Michaels home,” says the letter, co-signed by notables including Louise Arbour, a former Supreme Court of Canada justice who was chief prosecutor for UN war crimes tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.