Human rights groups and the Canadian government separately condemned a ruling this week by a Chinese court affirming a life sentence for a Canadian accused of "separatist activities."
"We were deeply disappointed to learn that Mr. Celil's appeal has been rejected by a Chinese superior court," Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said in a statement Tuesday. "In our view, due process for this Canadian citizen was not followed and his rights were not respected."
Huseyincan Celil of Burlington, Ont. was sentenced in April to life in prison. On Tuesday, a higher court rejected his appeal. Family members said neither Celil nor his lawyer were allowed to speak at the hearing.
"In order for the court to judge this case better and more accurately, the court should hold a trial before announcing the decision," Celil's Chinese lawyer Wei Rujiu told the Globe and Mail newspaper.
Celil was arrested by authorities in Uzbekistan in March 2006, at the behest of the Chinese regime. He was deported to China where he has remained in detention.
Celil is an outspoken advocate of the rights of Uighur Muslims in the northwestern Chinese province of Xinjiang and for the region's independence.
He was detained and tortured previously in China for his activities and escaped the country in 1997. He was granted U.N. refugee status in Turkey and immigrated to Canada in 2000.
His wife and four children, aged 11 months to eight years, live in Burlington, Ont.
Family members and supporters reported in February that Celil had been tortured in detention in China and coerced into signing a confession statement, which he reportedly renounced.
Canadian embassy officials have been denied access to Celil by the Chinese regime, which refuses to acknowledge Celil's Canadian citizenship.
In response, the Canadian government said this week it was reviewing its consular agreement with the communist regime "to determine whether it is in fact an effective means of safeguarding Chinese-Canadian dual citizens travelling on Canadian passports."
One prominent Chinese-Canadian organization, the Chinese Canadian National Council, raised such a concern on Wednesday following the news of Mr. Celil's sentence.
"CCNC maintains its position that the plight of Huseyin Celil has far-reaching implications for naturalized Canadians of Chinese origin who travel to China or to surrounding nations where they may face the threat of arrest, imprisonment, or deportation to China and no access to consular services," the group said in a statement.
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