Huawei Extradition Case Hearing Delayed Till March

The extradition hearing for a top Huawei executive at the centre of a diplomatic row between Ottawa and Beijing was pushed back to March, to give defence more time to go through the charges that US authorities unveiled on Monday.

Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's chief financial officer and the daughter of its founder, was indicted along with Huawei, of using a Hong Kong front company, Skycom, to trade with Iran in violation of US sanctions. The US alleges Meng lied to banks about those dealings.

The judge made the decision to delay the start of the extradition hearing during Meng's first court appearance since being released on bail.

During the bail review hearing, Meng's attorneys also changed one of people who put up bail for her.

When she was originally granted bail last month, one of the people putting up her bail did not have the proper paperwork needed to pledge his house, so another person stepped forward to supply cash.

Meng is scheduled to return to court on March 6.

She was arrested at Washington's request on December 1 as she changed planes in Vancouver, and was later released on bail pending a decision on extradition to the US.

Extradition cases can take months or years, noted David Lametti, Canada's new attorney general.

"By the time all the individual's rights are exhausted, they can actually take a long time," he told journalists in Ottawa.

At the end of the process, if a judge orders an extradition, the attorney general would have the "final say," he added.

The case has drawn Canada into an escalating diplomatic crisis with Beijing, which has detained two Canadians in what was widely seen as an act of retaliation for Meng's arrest.

Over the weekend, Canada sacked its ambassador to China after he said that he believed the US extradition request was flawed.

China reacted furiously to the US criminal charges, saying they were the product of "strong political motivations and political manipulations".

The company also denied any wrongdoing. (AP, AFP)