Huawei Exec's Lawyers Open New Front In Extradition Trial: Report

Canada would violate international law by extraditing a Huawei executive to the United States, her lawyers argue in new documents cited by the Canadian public television channel CBC.

Meng Wanzhou's defense believes that their client's alleged actions have "no connection" with the US, according to the CBC, which cites new documents filed Friday in Vancouver court.

Meng is wanted in the US on fraud charges related to violations of US sanctions on Iran. She is accused of hiding Huawei's relationship with former subsidiary Skycom in Iran from HSBC bank.

The daughter of the founder of the Chinese telecom giant was arrested in 2018 at the Vancouver airport on a US warrant, causing a major diplomatic crisis between China and Canada.

In their latest bid to halt her extradition, Meng's lawyers cite several experts in international law.

They argue the US has no jurisdiction to charge a Chinese national for actions occurring outside the US and involving a non-US executive of a British bank.

"There is no connection," say the lawyers quoted by CBC. "None of (Meng's) alleged conduct occurred in whole or in part in the U.S. or had any effect there."

If Canada agreed to extradite her, it "would be complicit in breaching customary international law," her lawyers argue, according to the report.

The new documents were presented after several weeks of testimony by Canadian police and customs officials before the Vancouver court.

Meng's lawyers also claim that their client's rights were violated when she was arrested at the Vancouver airport and that sensitive information about her was passed on to the FBI, which Canada denies.

The final hearings to determine whether Meng should be extradited are scheduled for next May.