The Border Services got access to all of Meng Wanzhou’s electronic devices. After two and a half hours of questioning Meng, her devices were passed to the RCMP. These materials had a lot of secret Huawei information.
I attended the virtual event “Zoom to free Meng Wanzhou” which attracted public and media scrutiny ahead of the event.
The event was held as it has now been almost two years since the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the Huawei executive and daughter of the founder.
The “Free Meng” event was hosted by the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute, the Canadian Peace Congress and the Hamilton Coalition to Stop War. The organizations that hosted the event were very anti-Conservative Party.
John Ivison wrote for the National Post that the organizers were “useful idiots” by organizing this event.
The organizer, Bianca Mugyenyi of the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute, said she was furious at the National Post and Conservative MP’s for alleging she was getting paid by China. However, she was happy about the free press.
The event did not start off well, as the wrong link was sent out. 250 people were waiting in the Zoom “waiting room” for ten minutes.
There were many speakers for the event. Some of them were clearly from the Chinese government. However, there was one speaker with legal knowledge who knew about Canadian law.
John Philpot is a criminal defence lawyer in Canada who wrote a book called “Justice Belied: The Unbalanced Scales of International Criminal Justice.” Mr. Philpot is a lawyer in Quebec, which has a different legal system than British Columbia, where Meng was arrested.
Mr. Philpot said that extradition is very simple. If someone is accused of a crime in the United States, the USA sends their evidence to Canada. If the same crime exists in Canada, it’s normal for the person to be surrendered to the United States within a relatively short period of time.
“The prime minister always has a part in extradition. There is a lot of talk about the rule of law. Instead, this is more like the rule of lies.” – John Philpot
The Indictment and Arrest Warrant
The indictment against Meng Wanzhou was issued in August 2018. The United States had been looking for a way to hurt Huawei and stop their global expansion.
Meng visited Belgium and the United Kingdom after the indictment but neither country arrested her. Both countries have an extradition treaty with the United States.
A warrant for an arrest tells the police to “arrest this person.” The RCMP and border services met the day before they knew Meng Wanzhou would arrive. They decided not to arrest Meng immediately. The Border Service decided to question Meng first. John Philpot said that if the police do not arrest someone, the person being held doesn’t have a right to a lawyer.
The Border Services got access to all of Meng Wanzhou’s electronic devices. After two and a half hours of questioning Meng, her devices were passed to the RCMP. These materials had a lot of secret Huawei information.
“I wish the record of this meeting could be posted on YouTube so I can share with audience in China.” – Jinying (Nick) Zhan from the Zoom live chat
Abuse of Process
John Philpot said this was major wrongdoing on part of the Canadian Border Services. Meng’s electronic devices were also sent to the FBI.
An abuse of process application for extorting information is difficult to prove. However, Mr. Philpot said it should be granted.
“How much you get paid by China by organizing this event? Who are you working for? Don’t let China bully Canada” – Turnisa Matsedik-Qura in the Zoom live chat
John Philpot said the judge (Justice Heather Holmes) made a mistake with the issue of “double criminality.” It was a way of bringing American law into Canada.
The prosecutor said the issue is about fraud. Mr. Philpot said that the judge said that Meng being arrested was “not as bad as slavery” and that this would be grounds for an appeal.
John Philpot said he doesn’t want war, he simply wants China and Canada to get along.
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