China defends death sentence

China vociferously defended a court’s decision to impose the death penalty on a convicted Canadian drug smuggler on Tuesday, escalating a diplomatic row that experts say has descended into a high-stakes game of hostage politics.

China’s foreign ministry blasted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “irresponsible remarks” after he criticised the death sentence imposed on Robert Schellenberg, 36.

Beijing and Ottawa have been squabbling since last month, when Canada arrested the CFO of Chinese telecom company Huawei on a US extradition request related to Iran sanctions violations.

Then authorities revisited the case of Schellenberg, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison in November.

A month later, an upper court took up his appeal and ordered a hasty retrial after ruling that the punishment was too lenient.

The timing and swiftness of Schellenberg’s sentence, and the inclusion of new evidence presenting him as a key player in a plan to ship 222kg of methamphetamine, raised suspicion among observers.- AFP