The chief financial officer for China tech giant Huawei is suing the Canadian government, its border security agency and the national police force for rights violations, VOA news reports.
Lawyers for Meng Wanzhou have filed a civil suit, claiming “misfeasance in public office and false imprisonment.”
The suit says Meng, the daughter of Huawei’s founder, was detained, searched and questioned for hours before being told she was under arrest and allowed access to counsel.
Meng was arrested at the request of the United States as she changed planes in Vancouver in December. She is wanted by Washington on charges that she conspired to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran.
“This case concerns a deliberate and premeditated effort on the part of the defendant officers to obtain evidence and information from the plaintiff in a manner which they knew constituted serious violations of the plaintiff’s rights,” the suit says.
Lawyers for Meng said she maintains her innocence. She is out on bail.
On Friday, the the Canadian justice department said Meng would appear in a Vancouver court on Wednesday to set a date for her extradition hearing.
The Chinese Embassy in Canada said it was “utterly dissatisfied with and firmly opposes” the decision to allow the case to proceed.
The case has soured China’s relationship with Canada. After Meng’s detention, China arrested two Canadians on national security grounds, and a Chinese court sentenced to death a Canadian man who previously had only been jailed for drug smuggling.
China has repeatedly called on Canada to release Meng, but Canada has refused, saying the case is a legal matter, not a political one.
It could be months, or even years, before Meng, who is under house arrest in Canada, is ever sent to the United States, since the Canadian justice system allows many of its legal decisions to be appealed.
U.S. President Donald Trump suggested last year the United States could cut a deal with China to secure Meng’s release. However, since then the U.S. Justice Department has unsealed its indictment against Meng and Huawei, and Trump has played down the idea of dropping the charges.