By Moira Warburton and Sarah Berman
VANCOUVER, March 31 (Reuters) - Huawei Chief Financial
Officer Meng Wanzhou’s arrest was valid, but her ongoing
detainment is illegal, defense lawyers told a Canadian court on
Wednesday, in a slight deviation from China’s official stance on
the case.
Meng, 49, was arrested in December 2018 at Vancouver
International Airport on a warrant from the United States, where
she faces charges of bank fraud for allegedly misleading HSBC
about Huawei Technologies Co Ltd’s business
dealings in Iran.
She maintains her innocence and is fighting extradition
while under house arrest in Vancouver.
Huawei lawyers have argued that Meng's actions were so far
removed from the United States that the country has no
legitimate jurisdiction over them.
Prosecutors representing the Canadian government have argued
in court that Canada had no choice but to arrest Meng under
treaty obligations to the United States, given that there was an
outstanding warrant for her arrest.
Defense lawyer Gib van Ert said on Wednesday that he agreed
Canada had to arrest Meng, "having received what was, on its
face, a bona fide extradition request."
But he said her continued detainment was illegal.
“There’s nothing about it that is an arbitrary detention,
but ... it is now revealed to be an unlawful detention,” van Ert
said, pointing to the defense allegation that the United States
broke international law by requesting her arrest.
China has said that it considers Meng's arrest and possible
extradition illegal. In the aftermath of her being detained,
China arrested two Canadians on charges of espionage, which
Canada has said it sees as retaliation.
Meng's case is set to conclude in May.
(Reporting by Moira Warburton and Sarah Berman in Vancouver;
Editing by Peter Cooney)