“It’s a combination of solitary confinement, total isolation, and relentless interrogation for six to nine hours every day,” he said. “They are trying to bully and torment and terrorise and coerce you ... into accepting their false version of reality.”

Kovrig and Spavor were released on the same day the US Justice Department dropped its extradition request for Meng and she returned to China.

The Chinese embassy in Ottawa, responding to Kovrig’s interview, said he and Spavor had been suspected of engaging in activities endangering China’s national security. Chinese judicial authorities handled the cases in strict accordance with the law, it said in a statement.

Bilateral ties are chilly. China this month opened a one-year anti-dumping investigation into imports of rapeseed from Canada, just weeks after Ottawa announced 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles.

Kovrig’s partner was six months pregnant at the time of his arrest. She played their daughter recordings of his voice and showed pictures of her father so she would recognise him when they finally met.

Loading

“I’ll never forget that sense of wonder, of everything being new and wonderful again and pushing my daughter on a swing that had her saying to her mother ‘Mummy, I’m so happy’,” he said.

Reuters