China sentences another Canadian to death for drug trafficking

Xu Weihong and Chinese associate Wen Guanxiong found guilty of manufacturing at least 120kg of ketamine in case dating back to October 2016
Xu is the third Canadian to be given the death penalty since Beijing-Ottawa relations soured over the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in 2018

US-China relations

Sarah Zhengin Beijing

Published: 8:00pm, 6 Aug 2020

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A Canadian citizen found guilty of drug trafficking has been given the death penalty by a court in southern China, the third person from Canada to be handed such a sentence in the past 19 months.

Xu Weihong, whose sex was not reported, was sentenced at the Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court on Thursday.

Xu’s associate, Wen Guanxiong – a 45-year-old man from Guangdong province – was sentenced to life in prison and stripped of his political rights for his role in the crime, the court said in a notice on its website.

The pair also had their personal properties confiscated, it said, without elaborating.

No clear end to China-Canada relations slide sparked by Meng’s arrest

While the court notice did not give an arrest date, a report by the Yangcheng Evening News said the two suspects were charged with buying the raw materials and equipment necessary to manufacture ketamine in October 2016.

The drugs were produced at Wen’s home and stored at Xu’s residence in Haizhu district, Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong, it said.

Police raids on the two properties yielded 120kg (265lbs) of ketamine, it said.

Xu Weihong is the third Canadian to be given the death sentence in China on drugs charges. Photo: AFP

The verdict comes 15 months after Canadian Fan Wei was sentenced to death by the Jiangmen Intermediate People’s Court in Guangdong.

Fan’s sex was also not specified, but the defendant and several associates – including an American and four Mexicans, who were given suspended death sentences and jailed for life – were found guilty of manufacturing more than 63kg of methamphetamine between July and November 2012.

That case came after Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg was handed the death penalty in January 2019, after losing his appeal against an initial prison sentence.

The former oil worker was detained in northeast China’s Liaoning province in 2015. Three years later he was sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined 150,000 yuan (US$22,000) for smuggling more than 200kg of methamphetamine in China.

However, when he appealed against the sentence at the Liaoning High People’s Court, prosecutors argued the initial sentence was too lenient and he was given the death penalty.

At the time of the retrial, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Beijing of “arbitrarily” applying the death sentence.

The two countries had recently become embroiled in a dispute over the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the chef financial officer for Chinese tech giant Huawei, at Vancouver International Airport in December 2018 on an extradition request from the United States.

Just days after Meng’s detention, Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were detained in China, in what was widely seen as a retaliatory action.

In June of this year, Beijing said it was moving ahead with the prosecution of the two men on spying charges.

China has been accused of detaining foreigners as leverage in disputes, a charge it denies.

Also in June, Australian Karm Gilespie was sentenced to death by a court in Guangzhou for drug trafficking, at a time of strained relations between Beijing and Canberra.

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