ファーウェイＣＦＯ逮捕後に中国で拘束されて１年、カナダ人２人の閉ざされた生活

【北京ＡＦＰ＝時事】カナダ人2人が、中国で身柄を拘束されてから10日で1年となる。拘束は中国の通信機器大手、華為技術（ファーウェイ）の最高財務責任者（CFO）孟晩舟被告の逮捕に対する報復行為とみられており、2人は弁護士をつけることもできず、家族に面会できない状態が続いている。（写真は中国で身柄を拘束された元カナダ外交官のマイケル・コブリグ氏。シンクタンクの国際危機グループ提供）
　元外交官で独立系シンクタンク「国際危機グループ」に勤めていたマイケル・コブリグ氏と、中国を拠点とする実業家で北朝鮮旅行の手配をしていたマイケル・スペーバー氏が拘束されたのは、孟被告が逮捕されたわずか９日後のことだった。
　孟被告は、ファーウェイ創業者の任正非最高経営責任者（ＣＥＯ）の娘で、昨年１２月１日に米国の要請を受けたカナダ当局によりバンクーバーの空港で身柄を拘束された。米国は、対イラン制裁に違反したとして孟被告の身柄引き渡しを要求しており、一方の孟被告は弁護団を雇い、法廷で徹底抗戦する構えを示している。
　中国政府は孟被告の釈放を繰り返し要求し、カナダ政府はカナダ国民を恣意（しい）的に拘束したとして非難している。
　孟被告とコブリグ・スペーバー両氏が置かれた状況は対照的だ。
　孟被告は、保釈中は足首に監視装置を装着することが義務付けられてはいるものの、バンクーバーの自宅で読書をしたり絵を描いたりして過ごしている。
　逮捕から１年の節目に支援者らに送った公開書簡には、こう書かれていた。「今は、時間がゆっくり流れているように感じます」「あまりにもゆっくり流れているため、本を最初から最後まで読めるほどです」「ささいなことを同僚と話し合ったり、油絵を丁寧に完成させたりする時間も取れます」
　父親の任氏は米ＣＮＮテレビで、孟被告の母親や夫が会いに行っている他、「苦しんでいる」娘と自分も連絡を取り合っていると話した。
　■２人の運命は孟被告の審理次第
　一方、海の向こう側で拘束されているコブリグ氏とスペーバー氏に対する尋問は何時間にも及び、拘束後、最初の６か月は就寝時にも照明をつけられたままだったと関係筋は伝えている。面会が許されているのは領事のみで、１回当たり３０分だという。
　カナダの元中国大使ギー・サンジャック氏によると、コブリグ氏は北京にある拘置所の１部屋で約２０人と共に、スペーバー氏は遼寧省丹東で１８人と共に収容されている。外に出られるのは１日１５分だけだ。
　家族からの写真やメッセージは大使館職員が大声で読み上げてから、中国当局に手渡される。だが、それをコブリグ氏とスペーバー氏が受け取っているかは不明だ。コブリグ氏については逮捕から１週間は、本の差し入れさえ拒否されていた。
　両氏は国家機密窃取の容疑をかけられているが、正式に起訴はされていない。
　専門家によると、コブリグ氏とスペーバー氏の運命は孟被告の今後の処遇次第だという。孟被告の審理は１月に開始する予定だ。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2019/12/11-08:59）

Two Canadians who disappeared into China's state security apparatus in what was widely seen as retaliation for the arrest of a Chinese telecom executive remain secluded in detention a year on, without access to lawyers or family.
Former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor, have been languishing in China's opaque legal system since they were apprehended on December 10, 2018 just nine days after the arrest of Huawei's Meng Wanzhou.
According to analysts, their fate is tied to what happens to Meng, who will have a hearing next month in a US extradition case that could potentially last years.
In the meantime, the trio face starkly different conditions.
Kovrig and Spavor have endured hours of interrogation and in the first six months of detention, they were forced to sleep with the lights on, according to people familiar with the matter.
Meng, however, is reading and painting in a mansion in Vancouver, where she is allowed to travel under curfew, tracked by an ankle bracelet.
Diplomatic relations between Canada and China have hit rock bottom over the arrests, damaging trade between the countries, with Beijing blocking billions of dollars worth of Canadian canola imports.
Beijing has repeatedly called for Meng's release while Ottawa says its citizens were arbitrarily detained.
It's a political case and there are very few signs of progress, Guy Saint-Jacques, the former Canadian ambassador to Beijing, told AFP.
Canada's new foreign minister, Francois-Philippe Champagne, said he expressed his country's deep concern over the condition of the Canadians' detention in talks with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi last month.
- China 'biding' its time -
Meng, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, was arrested while changing planes in Vancouver on December 1.
Accused by the US of violating Iran sanctions, she has hired a team of lawyers to help her fight extradition in court.
Right now, time seems to pass slowly, wrote Meng in an open letter thanking supporters on the anniversary of her arrest.
It is so slow that I have enough time to read a book from cover to cover, she continued. I can take the time to discuss minutiae with my colleagues or to carefully complete an oil painting.
Her mother and husband visit her, Ren told CNN, adding that he was in contact with his daughter, who is suffering.
Across the Pacific, Kovrig and Spavor have had no direct contact with anyone outside of consular visits that each last half-an-hour, sources said.
They face allegations of collecting state secrets but neither has been formally charged, which suggests Chinese authorities may be biding their time, Saint-Jacques said.
Kovrig is being held in a cell with about 20 inmates in Beijing, while Spavor shares his with 18 people in Dandong, according to Saint-Jacques.
They are allowed outside for 15 minutes per day, he said.
Messages and photos from family are read out loud to the two Canadians by embassy officials, before they are handed to Chinese authorities ?- who may or may not give them to the two men, the sources said.
In the first weeks following Kovrig's arrest, even books were denied.
- Not the first time -
Spavor, who was based in northeast China, facilitated trips to North Korea, including past visits by US basketball legend Dennis Rodman. He even met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
I would like to help him, but I feel quite powerless, said Tereza Novotna, a friend of Spavor.
Kovrig's employer, the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank, said the former diplomat who was based in Hong Kong was regularly invited to the mainland by Chinese officials and could not have be viewed as hostile to China.
I don't think one needs to be an expert on legal matters to conclude why (Kovrig) was arrested, said ICG president Robert Malley.
The Crisis Group is tweeting about Kovrig's case every day to keep him in the public eye.
It's just important for us to remind the world that he's still being detained, said Malley.
China and Canada were embroiled in a similar standoff five years go.
In 2014, Canadian Christian aid workers Kevin and Julia Garratt were detained shortly after a Chinese national was arrested in Canada in connection with a hacking case in the United States.
The Canadians was regularly interrogated in the first six months of detention, Kevin Garratt said.
In prison, he said, there was no food to buy more than a quarter of the time.
Julia was released in 2015. Kevin was held longer on spying allegations and finally freed in 2016, months after the Chinese citizen, Su Bin, was sent to the United States and pleaded guilty.
There's always hope, Kevin Garratt told AFP. That's what kept me going, having hope.