A court in China on Wednesday sent to prison Canadian entrepreneur Michael Spavor after he was found guilty of espionage, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Spavor, charged with espionage in June 2019, will spend 11 years behind bars in a case viewed as a deeper diplomatic quarrel between China, Canada, and the United States.
China's Dandong Intermediate People's Court (DIPC) stated that $7,700 of Spavor's personal assets would be seized. The court also ruled that Spavor will be deported at a yet-to-be-set date.
In a statement, the DIPC said the Canadian businessman was convicted of spying and illegally supplying state secrets to foreign entities.
Spavor and another Canadian national, Michael Kovrig, have spent 975 days in prison. They were tried on separate occasions earlier this year.
The Global Times, China's state-run news outlet, said Spavor was accused of providing intelligence to Kovrig.
A former diplomat, Kovrig became an analyst for the International Crisis Group (ICG). According to Canadian officials, the charges against its two citizens are unfounded.
Dominic Barton, Canadian ambassador, condemns the Chinese court's long sentence, stressing the decision was handed down without transparency or due process, The Guardian said.
Spavor's sentencing was announced as the legal counsel representing Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou launched a final push to prevent a Canadian court from extraditing her to the U.S. over a possible breach of trade sanctions on Iran, reports said.
Meng, the daughter of Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei, was charged with misleading HSBC Holdings about the tech company's business transactions in Iran, which potentially caused the British lender to violate American economic sanctions against the Islamic republic.
In an interview with Reuters, Beijing-based attorney Mo Shaoping said deportation often occurs after an individual has finished serving a sentence but may take place earlier in special cases.
China has dismissed suggestions that Spavor and Kovrig's cases in the country are tied to Meng's case in Canada.
China calls Meng's case a purely political incident and has warned of unspecified consequences unless the Huawei executive was set free.
Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the court's sentencing of Spavor was "absolutely unacceptable" and called for the businessman's immediate release, Reuters reported.
