The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa confirmed the executions of four double Canadian-kine citizens for drug offenses.
China has executed four Canadian nationals earlier this year for misdemeanors related to drugs, despite multiple petitions for grace, the Canadian Foreign Ministry said.
Foreign Minister Melanie Joly told reporters on Wednesday that she was “strongly condemning” execution and that she and former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had asked for indulgence in any case.
Joly did not give further details about the four Canadians because of the request for the privacy of his families.
Canadian spokesman for global jobs Charlotte MacLeod said Ottawa would continue to provide consular assistance to families, and “remains unwavering in opposition to the use of death in all cases, everywhere.”
Although the executions of Westerners in China are relatively rare, four Canadians were also a double Chinese nationals – a status that Beijing does not recognize.
The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa told the Canadian media that four were approved honest trial and proceedings in “strict in accordance with the law”.
“China is a land of rules. Whoever violates the Law of China must be responsible in accordance with the law,” the statement announced by the Globe and Mail newspaper said.
“The facts about the crimes committed by Canadian nationals involved in cases are clear, and the evidence is solid and sufficient,” the statement said.
Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of the English Speaking Department of International Amnesty International, said “shocking and inhumane execution of Canadian citizens by Chinese authorities should be an invitation to wake up in Canada.”
Currently, about 100 Canadians are held in China, according to the Canadian media, many of which are on drug offenses. One of the highest cases is Robert Schellenberg, who was originally sentenced to a 15-year prison sentence in 2014. His sentence was later changed to death after release in January 2019.
Canadian arrest of executive director Huawei Meng Wanzhou at the request of the implementation of the United States Law at the end of 2018, as well as Beijing’s custody of two Canadians for charges of spying the same year, and the leader of Chinese interference with the Canadian elections led to a rapid fall in Chinese-Canadian relations.
The tension seems to have expanded to a trade relationship between both countries.
Earlier this month, Beijing announced Tariffs on Canadian Agricultural Combs after Ottawa imposed a 100 % tax on Chinese production electric vehicles last year.
Peter Humphrey, a former British investigator who is committed to foreigners detained in China, told Globe and Mail that China “committed a significant number of foreign citizens” in the rapid succession “absolutely unprecedented”.
“This is a really strong signal that China has no intention of patching things up with Canada,” he said.
