The court also called for Spavor's deportation and confiscation of some $10,000 of personal property. 

China detained Spavor in December 2018 - several days after Huawei Technologies' Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver.

Meanwhile, another Canadian citizen on Tuesday lost his appeal against the death sentence given to him by a court in China on charges of drug smuggling.

The court said that it found the evidence against Robert Lloyd Schellenberg to be 'sufficient' and therefore upheld his death sentence, the BBC reported.

Schellenberg had been initially sentenced to 15 years in jail, but in 2019 an appeal court said this was too lenient a punishment for such a heinous crime, which lead to a retrial wherein he was given the death sentence.

This verdict comes in the midst of fraught Canada-China relations.

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau reacts to conviction of Spavor:

He said the conviction remains 'absolutely unacceptable and unjust'.

"The verdict for Mr. Spavor comes after more than two and a half years of arbitrary detention, a lack of transparency in the legal process, and a trial that did not satisfy even the minimum standards required by international law," Trudeau said in a statement.

"Our thoughts, and the thoughts of all Canadians, are with Mr. Spavor and his loved ones during this incredibly difficult time. The Government of Canada continues to provide consular assistance to Mr. Spavor and his family as we work to secure his safe return," he said.

(With UNI/Sputnik inputs)