China sentences a Canadian to death

A court in northeastern China sentenced Robert Lloyd Schellenberg to death for smuggling drugs in an unusually swift retrial that escalated China’s diplomatic conflict with Canada.

The details: Mr. Schellenberg was arrested in 2014 and detained for 15 months before his first trial. It took another 32 months before he was declared guilty and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He appealed his sentence, maintaining that he was framed. A court ordered his retrial last month.

Why it matters: The retrial came just weeks after Canadian authorities arrested Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei. Mr. Schellenberg’s family had voiced fears that he would be used as a bargaining chip.