New Delhi (NVI): A Canadian citizen was sentenced to death by a Chinese court today over drug charges, in a further escalation of tension between the two countries.
Canadian citizen Xu Weihong became the third Canadian today to be awarded capital punishment for producing drugs while his accomplice, Chinese national Wen Guanxiong, was sentenced to life imprisonment, reports the Global Times.
The Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court in South China’s Guangdong Province made the judgment on the drug production case this morning and Xu was sentenced to death. The court also ordered the confiscation of all his personal property, the Chinese newspaper reported.
Xu’s accomplice Wen will also face deprivation of political rights for life and confiscation of all his personal property.
According to the Global Times, in October 2016, Xu purchased the raw materials and tools for drug making, and worked with Wen to make ketamine in Wen’s residence and stored the drugs in Xu’s residence in Haizhu district, Guangzhou.
Police officers seized 120.56 kilograms of ketamine at the above-mentioned residences, the newspaper reports.
However, this is not the first case of Canadians being convicted and sentenced over drug charges. In January 2019, Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg was sentenced to death by the Dalian Intermediate People’s Court for smuggling more than 222 kilograms of meth, according to the Global Times.
Relations between China and Canada have strained since Canadian officials arrested Huawei Technologies Co. Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver in 2018.
The move was immediately followed by Beijing detaining two Canadian citizens working in China, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor over charges of spying.
In another case, China sentenced Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg to death last year on drug trafficking charges. The move came shortly after Meng’s arrest. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had denounced it as “arbitrary.” Another Canadian national, Fan Wei, was also subsequently given the death penalty by a Chinese court.
-ARK
