VANCOUVER—More than half a dozen lawyers were back in B.C. Supreme Court on Wednesday as the defence argued Canadian border officers “tricked” Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou during her arrest.

It was Day 3 of what is expected to be an eight-day disclosure hearing. The judge is considering whether the Canadian government should provide Meng’s defence lawyers with more evidence to help them prepare for trial.

Meng, the daughter of Huawei’s founder, was arrested Dec. 1 at Vancouver’s international airport, triggering a diplomatic headache for Canada. She’s facing extradition to the United States, where she has been charged with fraud and violating sanctions against Iran.

Huawei and Meng have denied the allegations, none of which have been proven in court. Meng is currently free on bail in Vancouver.

On Wednesday, Meng sat beside her translator in the Vancouver courtroom, wearing a striped collared shirt and a dark green sweater draped over her shoulders. The Huawei executive nodded as she listened to her lawyer argue that Canadian border officers failed to properly execute a warrant for her arrest.

Defence lawyer Scott Fenton began by responding to the attorney general of Canada’s argument that border officials were simply following the law when they took her aside for questioning immediately after she stepped off a plane.

Fenton said Canadian border security officers, like police, are peace officers and therefore were obligated to arrest Meng immediately, as the arrest warrant dictated.

One of the defence team’s main assertions is that Meng should have been arrested right away — and therefore given the constitutionally protected right to silence and right to a lawyer without delay — instead of being first questioned under what the defence alleges was the guise of an immigration check.

Meng’s lawyers say her charter rights were violated, as there was a three-hour delay between her stepping off the plane and her arrest. During that time she was questioned by Canadian border officials.

Fenton said border officers who questioned Meng did not explain in their notes why they didn’t immediately arrest her. He alleges they did this on purpose, since officers are required by law to take detailed notes.

“There was an air of reality (that the border officers) had the intention of hiding their intentions,” he said, adding that, essentially, “Ms. Meng was tricked.”

During the disclosure hearing, the defence team’s goal is to show the judge there is an “air of reality” to their argument — in other words, that it is reasonable to think that Canadian law-enforcement officials may have violated Meng’s charter rights when they questioned and then arrested her.

Meng’s team hopes this will convince the judge to order the Crown to disclose more evidence, such as emails and other communication sent between U.S. and Canadian officials ahead of the arrest. That evidence, her lawyers say, may prove meddling by U.S. authorities.

The disclosure hearing will continue next week. The attorney general of Canada is scheduled to make submissions Monday.

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Legal experts not involved in the case have said the extradition case could last as long as a decade.

An appearance for Meng’s separate civil case, in which she is suing the Canada Border Services Agency for breaching her charter rights during her arrest, was scheduled for Monday but was postponed.

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