Shomporko Desk:-BEIJING – China has sentenced a fourth Canadian resident to death on drug charges in under two years following a sharp downturn in ties over the capture of a chief of Chinese tech giant Huawei.
Ye Jianhui was sentenced Friday by the Foshan Municipal Intermediate Court in the southern province of Guangdong. Ye had been seen as blameworthy of assembling and shipping drugs, the court said in a concise explanation.
Another suspect for the situation was likewise given capital punishment and four others sentenced to between seven years and life in jail. Death sentences are automatically referred to as China’s highest court for review.
Ties between Canada and China have nosedived over Canada’s late 2018 arrest of Meng Wanzhou, a company executive and the daughter of Huawei’s founder, at Vancouver’s airport is at the request of the U.S., which wants her extradited to face fraud charges over the company’s dealings with Iran. Her arrest enraged Beijing, which calls it a political move aimed at constraining China’s rise as a global technology power.
Ye’s sentencing comes a day after fellow Canadian Xu Weihong was given the death penalty by the Guangzhou Municipal Intermediate Court, also in Guandong province. Convicted Canadian drug smuggler Robert Schellenberg was sentenced to death in a sudden retrial shortly after Meng’s arrest, and a Canadian citizen identified as Fan Wei was given the death penalty in April 2019 for his role in a multinational drug smuggling case.
In apparent retaliation, China also detained former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and Canadian entrepreneur Michael Spavor weeks after Meng’s arrest, accusing them of vague national security crimes.
Photo credit: HT FILE PHOTO
News source: The Associated Pres
