Canada’s treatment of Meng inhumane
Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, had her bail hearing Friday in the British Columbia Supreme Court in Vancouver, Canada. The hearing was adjourned with no decision made on bail, and will resume 1 pm on Monday.
Court reporters said she was not handcuffed for the hearing and was wearing a green sweat suit. She seems to be getting humane treatment, but that was only a surface illusion.
A source familiar with the case told Global Times that since Meng was detained by Canadian police on December 1, she has been subjected to rude and degrading treatment. She was immediately handcuffed at the airport and taken to a detention facility. She was also cuffed on her way to and from hospital from the facility. It is worth noting that Meng was wearing ankle braces when she was taken to the correction center after her first bail hearing.
In the absence of a conviction by trial, Meng was placed in restraining devices of the kind used on felons. Treating her as a prisoner is not only degrading, but also a violation of her basic human rights.
The Chinese public, who are very concerned about this matter, find it hard to believe that Meng was treated in such a way, especially in Canada. Canada is a country well-known for emphasizing human rights and the rule of law. There is no doubt that Canada is on the wrong side in this case. To describe this with an old Chinese saying, such behavior is like holding a candle for the devil. Meng did not violate any Canadian law. US authorities are accusing her of violating US domestic laws, but it is still unknown if the US side can provide sufficient evidence to prove their accusations.
The Canadian prosecutor accused Meng of being a director of a subsidiary that was decoupled from Huawei and that the company sold computer equipment to Iran in violation of US sanctions against Iran. There is a huge controversy over the facts as stated by the prosecution. In any case, even if the US found some so-called evidence, the nature of such a case still leaves a lot of room for legal debate.
As of now, most of the cases concerning foreign companies violating US bans on Iran have been dealt with by fines and sanctions. And it is not just one or two companies: Many European companies have been involved. The EU still encourages European companies not to withdraw from Iran. Does that mean executives from these companies should all be arrested and put into detention in Canada when they transit through the country, and should they all be handcuffed?
It is time for Canadian authorities to figure out the reasons why Ms Meng is the only wanted member of the board of Skycom, a company based in Hong Kong, accused of violating sanctions by the US.
Canada is an independent sovereign nation. Although its relationship with the US is quite special, it should remain neutral in dealing with Meng’s case, and not simply do whatever the US has told it to do. We hope that Canadian authorities handle the case seriously and properly. We also hope that Ms Meng will be treated humanely and will be granted bail so that she can regain her freedom as soon as possible.