Another unexpected delay in Meng Wanzhou’s marathon extradition case, as technical difficulties thwart virtual hearing
- A hearing to chart the future of the Huawei executive’s case in Vancouver has been delayed until next week
- Participants were unable to connect to the hearing, which was being held remotely due to pandemic precautions
The case management conference that had been scheduled to take place in the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Vancouver on Friday could not convene and was instead adjourned until May 12. The hearing was being held remotely due to pandemic precautions.
Those arguments will now be held in August, and Friday’s conference had been expected to address how the rest of the case would proceed, in light of the new evidence which Meng’s lawyers have described as “copious”.
Meng extradition case thrown into turmoil as judge grants three-month delay
David Martin, one of Meng’s lawyers who was listening in on the otherwise silent courtroom phone line with reporters when a court officer announced the unexpected delay, said in an email that he was “not entirely sure what occurred”, but that the delay may have been related to “technical difficulties” with the “completely virtual hearing”.
A court officer later confirmed that the hearing “was unable to commence because of problems with the technology necessary for all the remote links”.
It was the second unexpected delay for the case management conference. On April 28, the matter had been adjourned at the request of Meng’s team after a hearing that lasted less than 15 minutes.
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How the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou soured China's relations with the US and Canada
Meng, who is Huawei’s chief financial officer and the daughter of company founder Ren Zhengfei, has been fighting against a US extradition request to have her face trial in New York for fraud ever since she was arrested at Vancouver’s airport.
She is accused of defrauding HSBC by lying about Huawei’s business dealings in Iran, thus putting the bank at risk of breaching US sanctions on the Middle Eastern country. Meng denies the charges.
‘US laws do not apply in China’: new front opens in Meng extradition fight
Government lawyers representing US interests in the extradition case have accused Meng of using delaying tactics.
Her arrest upended China’s relations with Canada and the US, with Beijing repeatedly demanding her release. Two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, were arrested in China soon after Meng’s detention, and recently underwent closed-door trials for espionage.
No verdicts have been announced. Canada has called the men victims of arbitrary detention and hostage diplomacy by China.
