Meng Wanzhou Sues Canada Over Arrest

Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou is suing Canadian authorities for violating her constitutional rights when she was arrested in Vancouver, according to her lawyers.

As she suffered "serious breaches of her constitutional rights", she is "seeking damages for misfeasance in public office and false imprisonment" when detained at Vancouver International Airport on December 1, attorneys Howard Mickelson and Allan Doolittle said.

The 47-year-old chief financial officer was changing planes in Vancouver when she was detained at Washington's request on suspicion of violating US sanctions on Iran - sparking arrests of Canadians in China that were seen as retaliatory.

Her lawyers charge impropriety in the conditions under which Meng was interrogated for three hours by the customs officers, officially as part of a routine inspection, before being served with her official arrest.

During those three hours, the customs officers searched her phones and computers as well as her luggage, in violation of her rights, the lawyers said.

The complaint was lodged Friday, the same day that Canadian justice officially launched Meng extradition process to the United States.

The US Justice Department accuses Huawei and its chief financial officer of circumventing US sanctions against Iran, but also, via two affiliates, stealing trade secrets from US telecommunications group T-Mobile.

The daughter of Huawei's founder, Meng was released on parole in mid-December in Vancouver, where she owns two residences.

Gary Botting, a Vancouver extradition lawyer who is not representing Meng, said Canada's Border Services Agency tends to overstep.

"They took her under custody without telling her why," Botting said. "They disguised the real reason why they detained her. Her rights were violated."

Botting said they had no reason to detain her as she had travelled to Canada many times before. "They are trying to get all this information ahead of time and they know ultimately an arrest was in the works," he said.

Lynette Ong, an associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto who focuses on China, quipped that the detained Canadians should take Beijing to court for violation of basic human rights, taking a leaf from the Meng lawsuit.

"The violation of their human rights is so much more grave than violation of her constitutional rights," Ong said. "But that's not even possible for them. The fact that they were denied a lawyer in the first place means they are not entitled to any justice." (AFP, AP)