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Aug. 7 (UPI) -- A Canadian citizen was sentenced to death for manufacturing and trafficking illegal drugs in China, a few days after another Chinese court ordered the death penalty for a Canadian national detained on similar charges. The Intermediate People's Court of Foshan City in Guangdong Province said Friday Ye Jianhui was found guilty of the "crime of transporting and manufacturing drugs," CNN reported.
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The court said Ye's accomplice, Lu Hanchang, was also sentenced to death. Four other suspects received sentences that span life imprisonment to seven years.
The statement from the Chinese court comes after Xu Weihong, a Canadian national, was sentenced to death on drug charges.
The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court said Tuesday Xu was found guilty of making ketamine in his home in Guangzhou in 2016, according to CNN.
One of Xu's associates, a Chinese national identified as Wen Guanxiong, received a sentence of life imprisonment, the South China Morning Post reported.
China has taken a tougher stance on convicted Canadians since the chief financial officer of Huawei was detained in Canada. Meng Wanzhou remains in Canada, where a court ruled Meng had met the legal standard of double criminality and qualifies for extradition to the United States. U.S. authorities say Meng committed bank fraud that violated U.S. sanctions against Iran.
In 2019, a Chinese court in Liaoning Province sentenced to death Robert Schellenberg, also a Canadian, for smuggling methamphetamines. Another Canadian, Fan Wei, was dealt the death penalty for drug smuggling last year.
Canada condemned the Chinese court decision on Xu.
"Canada is profoundly concerned that China has chosen to apply the death penalty to Mr. Xu. Canada opposes the use of the death penalty in all cases, everywhere," Ottawa said in statement on Friday.
In June Chinese authorities charged two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, with espionage.
