Two Canadians imprisoned in China since 2018 were free and on their way home, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada announced on Friday night.

The release of the two men, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, was made public just hours after the US justice department reached an agreement that cleared the way for Huawei Technologies’ chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, to return to China in exchange for admitting wrongdoing in a fraud case.

The Canadian authorities arrested Meng, 49, in December 2018 at Vancouver International Airport, at the request of the US, which put Canada square in the middle of a diplomatic standoff.

Trudeau said that the two men left Chinese airspace at about 8:30pm EDT with Dominic Barton, Canada’s ambassador to China. At about the same time, a private jet headed for China and carrying Meng passed out of Canadian airspace, according to Canadian news reports. Chinese state media later said that Meng was on her way home.

New York times News Service