Friend concerned for Canadian detained in China after GoFundMe campaign shut down

The European Union says it supports Ottawa in the struggle over three Canadians detained in China, and that two of them are being blocked from seeing a lawyer. Abigail Bimman looks at what Sarah McIver, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig are facing.
A friend of Michael Spavor says he is worried about the detained Canadian’s well-being and financial future now that an online fund-raising effort in his name has been derailed.

Andray Abrahamian, a lecturer at Stanford University in California, was among the organizers of a GoFundMe campaign for Spavor, arrested last month in China for allegedly endangering Chinese national security.

GoFundMe said the campaign in Spavor’s name was shut down because its third-party payment processor, which made the decision, was unable to handle the donations.

GoFundMe spokeswoman Rachel Hollis would not elaborate on the reason, but said the fundraising portal relies on such processors to make sure money transfers made online “are securely processed and verified, helping us to keep GoFundMe the safest place to donate online.”