Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei, has filed a civil suit against Canadian government over her arrest at Vancouver airport, actively fighting back against her extradition proceedings.
Meng has filed a civil claim against members of the Canada Border Services Agency, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Government of Canada alleging serious breaches of her constitutional rights, her legal team said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Monday.
She is also seeking damages for misfeasance in public office and false imprisonment based on alleged multiple failures of those Canadian government officials to comply with the rule of law upon her detention, search, and interrogation at Vancouver International Airport on December 1, 2018, the statement said.
"It's an active move responding to the commencement of the extradition process in the case of Meng," Xiang Ligang, an industry expert who has been keeping a close eye on the matter, told the Global Times.
"With or without Meng, Huawei will continue moving ahead. With this new civil claim, the extradition process will be prolonged, adding chances to see more divergence inside the Canadian administration on this case," Xiang said.
Canada's Department of Justice issued an Authority to Proceed on Friday, formally commencing the extradition process of Meng.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang on Saturday reiterated the country's resolute opposition against the US and Canada's actions and urged Canada to release Meng immediately, calling it a serious political event.
"I believe Meng's strategy will be very effective in countering the Canadian Government's decision to proceed with the extradition process," Attorney Long Z. Liu, licensed in the State of California and by the US Federal Court, told the Global Times on Monday.
If the Canadian Supreme Court finds that Meng's detention at the airport was in violation of her constitutional rights this will undermine the entire extradition process, he noted.
