Huawei fights to share sensitive evidence in US sanction case

Huawei Technologies Co., the Chinese smartphone maker charged with violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, asked a federal judge for a closed-door hearing to press for access to evidence that prosecutors say is too sensitive for defense lawyers to share with their clients.

Prosecutors have classified 21,000 pages of “sensitive discovery material” that can’t be shown to anyone beyond a group of U.S. defense lawyers and must remain in the country to avoid the information falling “into the wrong hands” in China. On Wednesday, Huawei asked U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly for a hearing Thursday to discuss the yearlong legal fight over the evidence.

“Little, if any, of the material requires such protection, and the government has never offered a reasonable justification for its designations,” Huawei lawyer Thomas Green said in a July 21 letter to the judge.

Huawei and Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou have been fighting charges that they evaded the sanctions by selling telecommunications equipment to Iran and then lied to U.S. authorities. A revised indictment in February added racketeering charges tied to allegations the company sought to steal intellectual property from U.S. firms.

Huawei wants to share the evidence with Meng, saying it was “both unseemly and improper” for the government to be dictating whom the defendants can speak with about central facts in order to defend a criminal case, Green said.

Meng was arrested in 2018 on a U.S. warrant in Vancouver, where a judge in May rejected her bid to end a Canadian extradition case.

Prosecutors say the material should not be shared with Meng because she could “misuse” the material during her extradition proceedings. They also said China shouldn’t have access because government officials have shown a willingness to “take actions that appear designed to defend Huawei from allegations in this case.” Prosecutors cited published reports about the jailing in China of Huawei employees after they engaged in an on line discussion in which one said he could “prove Huawei sold [equipment] in Iran.”