Four Canadians were executed in China for drug -related charges earlier this year, Canadian authorities have confirmed.
All were two citizens and their identities were selected at the request of their family, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada said Mélanie Joly said on Wednesday.
She condemned murders as “irreversible and incompatible with basic human dignity”, adding that she had “personally asked for leniency”.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Canada said the evidence of Canadian nationals’ crimes were “solid and sufficient” and urged Canada to “stop making irresponsible comments,” reports.
The Chinese embassy also added that Beijing had “fully guaranteed the rights and interests of the Canadian nationals concerned” and urged the Canadian government to respect “the judicial sovereignty of China”.
China does not recognize double citizenship and takes a difficult position on drug -related crimes.
Joly said that she has been following the “very close” cases for months and had tried with other officials, including former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to stop the executions.
In a statement to the Canadian media, Global Affairs Canada spokesperson Charlotte MacLeod said that Canada had “called leniency several times for these people at the next level and remains firm in its opposition to the use of the death penalty in all cases, everywhere”.
China imposes the death penalty on serious crimes, especially those related to drugs, corruption and espionage. Although the number of executions is kept secret, human rights groups think that China has one of the highest execution rates in the world.
However, it is rare that the death penalty is brought to foreigners.
The executions revealed this week aroused criticism from activists.
“These shocking and inhuman executions of Canadian citizens by Chinese authorities should be alarm clock for Canada,” Ketty Nivyabandi said Amnesty International Canada. “We are devastated for the families of the victims, and we hold them in our hearts when they try to treat the unimaginable.”
“Our thoughts also go to the loved ones of Canadian citizens that China is in the death corridor or which it is unknown in the Chinese penitentiary system.”
In 2019, Canadian national Robert Lloyd Schellenberg was sentenced to death in China for drug smuggling – in a very publicized case which aroused the conviction of the Canadian government. He was not among the Canadians who were executed.
“We will continue not only to strongly condemn, but also to ask for leniency for other Canadians who face similar situations,” said Joly on Wednesday.
Relations between Canada and China have been frozen since 2018 after Canada has held a Chinese telecommunications framework, Meng Wanzhou, on an American extradition request. China has stopped two Canadians shortly after – although everyone has now been released.
Earlier this year, Canadian media published reports, many of which are based on disclosed intelligence, on the detailed affirmations of Chinese interference in the country’s last two federal elections. China condemned the reports, calling them “without foundation and defamatory”.
More recently, China has imposed reprisal rates on certain Canadian farmers and food imports in retaliation for Ottawa levies from Chinese electric vehicles, steel and aluminum.
