OTTAWA, March 1 -- Canada was likely to announce on Friday that an extradition hearing involving a Huawei Technologies executive can proceed, legal experts said, worsening already strained relations with China. Police arrested Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, the telecommunication company’s chief financial officer, in Vancouver in December at the request of the US. In January, the US Justice Department charged Huawei and Meng with conspiring to violate sanctions on Iran. Ottawa has until midnight local time on Friday (0500 GMT on Saturday) to announce whether it will allow a court in British Columbia to begin a formal extradition hearing. Joanna Harrington, a law professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, said officials were most likely to approve the move. “I have no reason to see why they wouldn’t,” she said. “There is an ongoing, long-standing extradition relationship between the United States and Canada. “The United States is a country with which we share a legal culture” and which Canada trusted, said Harrington, a human rights law specialist. After Meng’s arrest Canadian officials said that the vast majority of US requests for extradition were approved. It could be years before she is sent to the United States, as Canada’s justice system allows many decisions to be appealed. Meng, under house arrest, was expected to appear in a Vancouver court on March 6 to show authorities she was keeping to the terms of the December deal that allowed her to stay out of prison. US President Donald Trump said in December he would intervene in the matter if it served national security interests or helped close a trade deal with China, prompting Ottawa to stress the extradition process should not be politicised. Last week, Trump played down the idea of dropping the charges. Beijing is demanding Meng be released. After her detention, China arrested two Canadians on national security grounds, and a Chinese court later sentenced a Canadian man who had been jailed for drug smuggling to death. Two Canadian lawyers believe that Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou will face an extradition hearing but one is not convinced of the wisdom of the decision. Canada was likely to announce on Friday that an extradition hearing involving a Huawei Technologies executive can proceed, legal experts said, worsening already strained relations with China. Beijing is demanding Meng be released. After her detention, China arrested two Canadians on national security grounds, and a Chinese court later sentenced a Canadian man who had been jailed for drug smuggling to death. Vancouver criminal defence lawyer Gary Botting, an expert in extradition law, also said he expected officials to issue the authority to proceed. “I have little doubt that they probably will but it would be very foolish,” he said, and added that an approval would “invite a whole pile of grief” and possible economic retaliation from China. The Canadian justice ministry declined to comment. David Martin, a lawyer for Meng, made no comment.
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