While Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has vehemently denounced Chinese courts convicting two of its citizens, Michael Spavor and Robert Schellenberg it has not once interfered or requested for the extradition of Huseyin Celil, a Canadian citizen and an Uyghur activist who has been imprisoned in China for almost 14 years now.
Spavor, who was convicted of spying for a foreign entity and illegally providing state secrets to other countries, was sentenced to 11 years in prison, one day after another court confirmed Schellenberg’s death sentence on drug-smuggling charges. In a statement, Prime Minister Trudeau said that Canada ‘will not rest until they are safely home’. On the other hand, the Canadian establishment has been virtually silent on Celil.
Celil was arrested by the Uzbek government in March 2006 at the request of Chinese authorities. In order to visit his wife’s family, he went to Uzbekistan. In 2007, he was handed over to China. China had been keeping an eye on Celil even before he left the country for Canada in 2001, as a Toronto Star opinion piece said he once was arrested for teaching the language, faith and culture of the Uyghurs.
According to the piece, the Canadian government was informed of his arrest, but did not intervene before he was handed over to the Chinese. According to the piece, Celil has not spoken to his wife Kamila Telendibaeva and their four children since 2017, when the Chinese President approved crackdowns on the mainly Muslim Uyghur population and other ethnic groups claiming all religions in China should be Chinese.
The forgotten Canadian
In contrast to the two other Canadians detained and another three Canadians of Asian descent who received death sentences within two years of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer, being arrested, very little is known about Celil’s case.
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Neither Canada nor the United States, which are both actively challenging these verdicts against Canadians, have ever asked for his whereabouts, let alone called for his release. According to the Canadian ambassador to China, Dominic Barton, Celil (in prison) was not a citizen of Canada, and therefore Barton was unable to meet him. François-Philippe Champagne, the then minister of foreign affairs, had to correct the fact and Barton apologized to Celil’s family for the error.
The Globe and Mail reported that Tohti, an Uyghur-Canadian activist and founding member of the World Uyghur Congress, said Barton’s error and calls for the release of the two Michaels (the other being the man arrested with Spavor). Tohti said, ‘He’s not only forgotten, he’s not on the agenda’.
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