Lawyers for Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou (pictured) sought to convince a Canadian court she should not be sent to the US to face criminal charges because a key criteria for extradition had not been met, CBC reported.

The commencing of hearings in Meng’s extradition case comes more than a year after her arrest in Vancouver in December 2018 at the request of the US government, for allegedly misleading international banks about Iran-linked transactions to skirt trade sanctions levied against the country.

CBC reported Meng’s defence in court relies on a standard known as double criminality, which specifies a person may only be extradited from the country if their alleged activity also violated Canadian law.

While the US implemented trade sanctions on Iran, Meng’s lawyers noted Canada had not imposed similar prohibitions.

The first of two hearings opened today (20 January) and is expected to last approximately five days. A second, set for June, will focus on whether Meng’s constitutional rights were violated when she was detained and searched under the pretence of a routine immigration check.

Huawei has strenuously denied any wrongdoing. The Chinese government repeatedly called for Meng’s release, arguing the charges against her were politically motivated.