Chinese tech executive Meng Wanzhou has returned to the B.C. Supreme Court as his lawyers seek to ease bail conditions for Huawei’s chief financial officer.
Speaking English and assisted by an interpreter, her husband Liu Xiaozong said he believed Meng was at an increased risk of contracting COVID-19 given her proximity to several security personnel whenever she left the house.
He says his wife is a thyroid cancer survivor and suffers from high blood pressure, while their daughter and son are afraid of being identified publicly on visits to Vancouver due to the presence of private security.
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Her lawyers want her to be allowed out of her home without her security guard and outside of her curfew hours, which starts at 11 p.m. and lasts until 6 a.m.
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She wears an electronic surveillance device and is limited to visiting parts of Vancouver, with the exception of the airport where she was arrested in December 2018 at the request of the United States.
Meng faces extradition to the United States for fraud based on allegations she and the company deny.
U.S. officials allege Meng distorted Huawei’s business relationship with Iran, putting HSBC bank at risk of violating U.S. sanctions against that country.
Meng’s lawyers presented a new branch of argument last month in support of their claim that she had been abused and should be released.
In a notice of application filed with the Supreme Court of British Columbia, its defense team says international law does not allow a government to criminalize the conduct of a person who is not a citizen outside of its own jurisdiction when there is no real connection with that country.
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His lawyers say HSBC is incorporated in the UK, Meng is a Chinese national, and the alleged fraud took place in Hong Kong, so the US is trying to assert jurisdiction where it does not exist.
Meng’s attorneys previously described three other lines of argument they are expected to make in the coming months.
They allege that Meng’s arrest was illegal, that US authorities distorted the case against her to their Canadian counterparts, and that Meng was used as a political pawn by US President Donald Trump.
© 2021 The Canadian Press
