Canadian citizen extradited to China could be put to death

Uzbekistan has extradited a Canadian citizen to China, where he faces a death sentence.

Huseyincan Celil, of Burlington, Ont., has been extradited by Uzbekistan to China, where he could face execution as a political dissident. (Canadian Press)

Huseyincan Celil was sentenced to death in China for human rights work.

The 37-year-old was sentenced in absentia for founding a political party to work on behalf of the Uighur people, a minority ethnic group in the Xinjiang province.

A father of six, Celil fled China in the mid-1990s. He came to Canada in 2001 from Turkey as a refugee and became a Canadian citizen.

The Burlington, Ont., resident has been held in an Uzbekistan jail since March. He was arrested in March while trying to renew his visitor's visa in the capital Tashkent.

A spokesperson for Foreign Affairs said the department informed Celil's family of the development on Monday and is trying to confirm where Celil is being held.

Celil and his wife have three children in Ontario and he has three more in China, a family friend told the Hamilton Spectator in April.

The same friend said Celil was in Uzbekistan in an attempt to try to get his three children out of China, but didn't explain how.