Accused smuggling kingpin Lai Changxing, one of Beijing's most wanted fugitives, waited behind bars Thursday as his 12-year fight to avoid deportation back to China appeared to near an end.

Lai faces being sent back to his homeland as early as July 25, after years of complicated legal battles that have pitted human rights advocates against the governments of China and Canada and soured bilateral ties.

"I can confirm that he's still in custody," Canada Border Services spokeswoman Shakila Manzoor told AFP Thursday after a rush of legal activity in in recent days.

Lai, a former businessman in China's Fujian province, arrived in Vancouver with his wife and children in 1999 and lodged claims for refugee status the following year.

Chinese authorities allege the former laborer was the mastermind of a gang in Fujian province that smuggled six billion US dollars worth of goods and have demanded his return.

Canadian officials have repeatedly agreed with China that he's a "common criminal," but courts and the Immigration and Refugee Board blocked his deportation, after his lawyers argued he would risk torture or death.

Canada does not impose the death penalty, and prohibits the return of alleged criminals to countries where they might be put to death.

In an unusual move, Beijing has promised not to sentence him to death, even though court documents accuse him of the "largest smuggling operation ever in China."

But the legal battles are still not over, amid recent court wrangling.

Last week officials carrying out a so-called "pre-removal risk assessment" -- the last step in Canada's system to ensure deportees will not be abused -- cleared him to be sent back.

Canada Border Services immediately detained him, and legal efforts to win his freedom were blocked by an unusual night-time court ruling this week.

Next week Lai's detention will be again reviewed by the Immigration and Refugee Board on July 18, and on July 21 Canada's federal court will hear Lai's appeal against the assessment clearing him for deportation.

But lawyer David Matas, defending Lai in the appeal against the assessment, said it was only the second case that could save him from deportation.

"The only case that can keep him in Canada is the case I am involved," he told AFP.

Historian Jeremy Brown of Simon Fraser University said the major shift in the saga came after China promised to allow Canada to track Lai's progress in its legal system.

"It's new that the Chinese are saying yes, the trial will be videotaped, Canadians can watch it and Canadians can go in and visit Lai in jail to make sure he's OK," Brown told AFP.

The case has a high profile in Beijing, where it has been followed closely, and it is expected to be raised when Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird visits China, from July 16 to 20.

Brown noted that while "it would be a bad idea for China to mistreat such a high profile person," Canada's influence would be limited once he is deported.

"He has no status in Canada... once he's sent back Canada has no obligation to him," he said.

"The legal system in China and the labor camps are not really healthy places to be," noted Brown, adding he was commenting as an academic "trying to understand China, not from an advocacy position."

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