Details: China pardons Canadian sentenced to death

TT

Published 2026-02-06 22.48

 

Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in Canada in 2021. Photo: Darryl Dyck/The Candien Press/AP/TT

China has overturned the death sentence against Canadian Robert Schellenberg, a Canadian government source told AFP.

Schellenberg, accused of drug trafficking, had his prison sentence commuted to death in 2019.

The death sentence came at a time of increased diplomatic tensions between China and Canada. It came shortly after Canada, at the request of the United States, arrested Chinese telecom giant Huawei's CFO Meng Wanzhou at Vancouver airport.

Meng Wanzhou was suspected of violating sanctions and was under Canadian house arrest before she was released in 2021 and was able to return home.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met with President Xi Jinping in China in January. They reached, among other things, a trade agreement on lower tariffs on certain goods.