Judge Grants Meng Wanzhou’s Request to Delay Extradition Hearings

Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei, walks down the street with an acquaintance after leaving B.C. Supreme Court during a lunch break at her extradition hearing, in Vancouver, B.C., on April 1, 2021. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Rich Lam)

VANCOUVER—A B.C. Supreme Court judge has granted Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou’s request to delay the final leg in her extradition hearings, days before they were set to begin.

Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes says she will deliver reasons for her decision in writing in the next week or so and a date to resume proceedings will be determined later.

The hearings were scheduled to begin Monday but Meng’s lawyers said they needed more time to review documents related to the case obtained through a Hong Kong court.

They asked Holmes on Monday to adjourn proceedings until Aug. 3, a delay they argued would also allow time for the third wave of COVID-19 to subside.

Lawyers for Canada’s attorney general had argued there’s no justification to delay proceedings in the high-profile case, especially given the public interest.

Meng was arrested at Vancouver’s airport in 2018 at the request of the United States to face fraud charges related to America’s sanctions against Iran, which both she and Huawei deny.

A teleconference has been scheduled with both legal teams for April 28 to determine a new date, which Holmes said should be on or around Aug. 3.