Daniel Duggan: Former US fighter pilot accused of training Chinese military to be extradited to US

Brisbane, Australia CNN —

A former US Marine accused of training Chinese military pilots will be extradited to face charges in the United States, Australia's attorney general confirmed Monday, dealing a blow to supporters who mounted a public campaign for his freedom.

Daniel Duggan, a naturalized Australian, was arrested in the state of New South Wales in 2022 based on a 2017 US grand jury indictment that accused him of training Chinese military pilots in violation of the US arms embargo.

Duggan denies the accusations, saying U.S. officials were aware of his activities and that he only trained civilian pilots while China's aviation sector was booming.

Attorney General Mark Dreyfus confirmed that Duggan should be extradited to face prosecution for the offenses he is accused of.

Mr Duggan was given the opportunity to argue why he should not be handed over to the United States. To make my decision, I took into consideration all the elements available to me, Dreyfus said in a statement Monday.

His decision follows the court's approval of Duggan's extradition by a magistrate in May.

In a statement, the pilot's wife, Saffrine Duggan, said she and their six children were shocked and absolutely heartbroken by the callous and inhumane decision which was made just before Christmas with no explanation or justification from the government.

We feel abandoned by the Australian government and deeply disappointed that they have completely failed in their duty to protect an Australian family. We are now considering our options, she said.

If convicted, Duggan faces a prison sentence of up to 65 years.

Duggan has been in custody since his arrest in October 2022, just weeks after returning to his family in Australia after six years working in China. He was arrested by Australian police acting at the request of American authorities.

The indictment filed in 2017 in the District of Columbia states that as early as 2008, Duggan received an email from the U.S. State Department informing him that he needed to register with the Directorate of Trade Controls of defense and request authorization to form a foreign air force.

Instead, it claims it conspired with others, including the Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA), to export defense services in violation of the arms embargo on China.

In a statement to CNN in 2023, TFASA said it complies with the laws of each jurisdiction in which it operates.

The statement said Duggan entered into a trial pilot contract for the company in South Africa between November and December 2012 and never worked for TFASA on any of its training mandates in China.

Duggan moved to China in 2013 and renounced his US citizenship at the US Embassy in Beijing in 2016, although his certificate was backdated to 2012 to reflect when he became an Australian citizen, according to his lawyers.

In an 89-page brief filed with Dreyfus' office in August, Duggan's lawyers argued that the former U.S. serviceman had become a political pawn at a time of heightened tensions between the United States and China.

He said his case was used to send a message to Western pilots that no deal with China would be tolerated by the United States or its allies.

The extradition request is a brutal response to American Sinophobia, his lawyer, Bernard Collaery, wrote in a covering letter attached to the brief.

While scapegoating Daniel Duggan may please some, his extradition to a hostile political environment and semi-anarchic prison system could also constitute a profound moral and foreign policy failure on Australia's part, he said. -he writes.

Duggan's arrest two years ago came as the United States, United Kingdom and Australia formed stronger security ties under AUKUS, an agreement they signed in 2021 to join forces in the Pacific to counter an increasingly assertive China.

Since then, the United Kingdom and Australia have strengthened their laws regarding ex-military personnel and their post-service activities.

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