Canada condemns China over upholding death sentence of its citizen

Canada strongly condemned Beijing's decision to uphold the death sentence against its citizen Robert Schellenberg on Tuesday.

A Chinese court upheld the death penalty for Canadian Robert Schellenberg for drug smuggling.

"We have repeatedly expressed to China our firm opposition to this cruel and inhumane punishment and will continue to engage with Chinese officials at the highest levels to grant clemency to Mr Schellenberg," Canadian Foreign Minister Marc Garneau said in a statement on Tuesday.

In December 2014, Schellenberg was detained and later in January 2015 was charged with drug smuggling. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2018. After Schellenberg appealed his original sentence, a provincial court in China retried him and decided on execution in 2019.

"We oppose the death penalty in all cases and condemn the arbitrary nature of Mr Schellenberg's sentence. Canada will continue to provide consular services to Mr Schellenberg and his family," Marc added.

Canadian nationals - former diplomat Kovrig and businessman Spavor - have also been in Chinese detention on espionage charges. However, Ottawa maintains that these are retaliatory measures for Canada's detention of Meng Wanzhou, who was detained in Vancouver in 2018 at the request of the United States.

Canadian relations soured with Beijing after the arrest of Meng and two Canadian nationals in China and have been further exacerbated by Ottawa's condemnation of Beijing's national security law implemented in Hong Kong and alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang province.

( With inputs from ANI )