Vancouver (AFP)

Lawyers for Huawei's chief financial officer, arrested in Canada at the end of 2018 at the request of the United States, on Monday demanded the publication of secret service documents proving, according to them, that her rights were violated during her arrest.

Ms. Meng was arrested on December 1, 2018, during a stopover at Vancouver airport, at the request of the American justice, which accuses her of having circumvented American sanctions against Iran.

On Monday, his lawyers reaffirmed, at the start of a new week of hearings in Vancouver court, the existence of a conspiracy between the FBI and Canadian authorities.

According to the defense, the Canadian authorities deliberately delayed the arrest of Meng Wanzhou during his stopover in Vancouver by several hours, the time to gather evidence for the FBI.

They believed her rights had been violated, after she was questioned for three hours by Canadian customs officials without knowing what was being held against her before being officially arrested.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP, federal police) had recorded the serial numbers of its electronic devices, before transmitting them to the FBI according to lawyers. The RCMP denies any abuse of process.

Most of the 400 court documents required relate to exchanges between Canadian and American authorities prior to arrest. The Ministry of Justice is opposed to their publication for reasons of national security.

Justice had ordered the Canadian Security Intelligence Service to make these items available to the defense, but most of them had been redacted. They are now calling for the uncensored version of these documents.

Ms Meng is on probation in Vancouver during the extradition process, the first phase of which is scheduled to last until April 2021.

This arrest sparked an unprecedented diplomatic crisis between Ottawa and Beijing.

A few days later, the former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and his compatriot consultant Michael Spavor were arrested in China, before being charged with espionage in mid-June. Their detention is widely viewed in the West as a retaliatory measure.

On Monday, Washington extended the sanctions against Huawei - which the Americans accuse of being in Beijing's pay - to 38 of its subsidiaries, in order to limit their access to American technologies.

© 2020 AFP