A Canadian entrepreneur was sentenced to 11 years in prison on Wednesday in a spying case linked to Beijing’s effort to push his country to release an executive of tech giant Huawei, prompting an unusual joint show of support for Canada by the United States and 24 other governments.

China is stepping up pressure as a Canadian judge hears final arguments about whether to send the Huawei executive to the United States to face charges related to possible violations of trade sanctions on Iran. On Tuesday, a court rejected another Canadian’s appeal of his sentence in a drug case that was abruptly increased to death after the executive’s arrest.

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Entrepreneur Michael Spavor and a former Canadian diplomat were detained in what critics labeled “hostage politics” after Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou was arrested on Dec. 1, 2018, at the Vancouver airport.

Spavor was sentenced by a court in Dandong, about 210 miles (340 kilometers) east of Beijing on the North Korean border. The government has released few details other than to accuse Spavor of passing along sensitive information to the former diplomat, Michael Kovrig, beginning in 2017. Both have been held in isolation and have little contact with Canadian diplomats.

The Canadian government condemned Spavor’s sentence. It said he and Kovrig are “detained arbitrarily” and called for their immediate release.

The legal process in Spavor’s case “lacked both fairness and transparency,” said Ambassador Dominic Barton outside a detention center where the sentence was announced.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau later said the trial “did not satisfy even the minimum standards required by international law.” Spavor has two weeks to decide whether to appeal, according to Barton.

“While we disagree with the charges, we realize that this is the next step in the process to bring Michael home, and we will continue to support him through this challenging time,” Spavor’s family said in a statement.

Diplomats from the United States, Japan, Britain, Australia, Germany, and other European countries plus the European Union gathered at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing in a show of support. They also have issued separate appeals for Spavor and Kovrig to receive fair trials or to be released.

Meng, the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies Ltd. and daughter of the company’s founder, was arrested on U.S. charges of lying to the Hong Kong arm of the British bank HSBC about possible dealings with Iran in violation of trade sanctions.

(With AP inputs)