The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, today issued the following statement regarding the Chinese court sentence against Huseyincan Celil, the Canadian citizen who has been detained in China since his extradition from Uzbekistan in June 2006:



“It is with deep disappointment that we learn that Mr. Celil has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Chinese court. Chinese authorities have persistently refused to respond adequately to our concerns with respect to due process for this Canadian citizen. They have also failed to allow Canadian officials the opportunity to provide consular assistance to Mr. Celil, in spite of repeated requests.



“The Government of Canada remains gravely concerned about allegations that Mr. Celil has been mistreated while in Chinese custody and possibly subjected to torture. This could constitute a serious breach of the United Nations Convention against Torture, to which both Canada and China are parties. We call upon the Government of China to investigate these claims promptly and impartially, and to ensure that Mr. Celil’s rights are adequately protected.



“As we believe that China did not live up to the spirit of the 1999 Canada-China consular agreement in this case, we will be conducting a review of this agreement to determine whether it is, in fact, an effective means of safeguarding Chinese-Canadian dual citizens travelling on Canadian passports.



“We strongly urge the Chinese authorities to respect their commitment to provide Canadian officials with information about Mr. Celil, and to ensure that he is accorded due process. The Canadian Embassy in Beijing is following the situation closely and will continue to monitor developments.”



Minister MacKay registered Canada’s concerns with the Chinese Chargé d’affaires this morning. The Minister also spoke with Mr. Celil's spouse, Kamila Telendibaeva, to assure her that Canada will continue to pursue justice for Mr. Celil.