Chinese businessman to be deported by Canada

Han Lin Zeng, a multimillionaire businessman who has sought refugee status in Canada since 2004, fears he will face execution if he is sent home. A Federal Court ruled on Wednesday that Zeng should be deported to China. Zeng faces fraud charges in his home country, and while Chinese authorities and the Crown prosecutor have played down the possibility of the death penalty, the Chinese judicial and prison systems are notorious for torture and execution. Federal Court Judge Richard Boivin said that there was no evidence that Chinese authorities would sentence him with the death penalty, and called Zeng’s arguments “speculative as there is no evidence that the death penalty or torture can reasonably be anticipated in this case.” Zeng is accused of carrying out $8-million in stock fraud, and arrived in Canada illegally in 2004, living underground until he was discovered by immigration authorities in 2008.

The Globe and Mail