Former Marine accused of training Chinese pilots appeals against extradition from Australia
Former US Marine Corps Pilot Daniel Duggan on Thursday transferred his extradition from Australia to the United States over allegations that the Chinese military overtook the past decade.
Duggan is accused of training Chinese pilots while working as an instructor at the Test Flying Academy of South Africa in 2012.
Australian Court Justice James Stellios will announce the decision at an unspecified date following a one-day hearing in Canberra Capital.
A 2016 lawsuit in the US District Court in Washington, DC, which was not banned until late 2022, alleged that Duggan had conspired with others to provide training for Chinese military pilots in 2010 and 2012, and perhaps at other times, without applying for a proper license.
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The training involved “tactical tactics, techniques and procedures associated with launching aircraft, as well as flying aircraft, in command of naval aircraft,” the lawsuit said.
Prosecutors said Duggan received about nine payments totaling 88,000 Australian dollars ($61,000) from another conspirator and travel to the US, South Africa and China for what was described as “personal development training.”
Duggan lived and worked in China for about five years before he was arrested, company records show.
Duggan denied the allegations, saying they were sent to politics by the US, which accused him of wrongdoing. He has been held in maximum security prisons since his existence Arrested in 2022 In a shop near his family home in New South Wales.
Australia’s Then Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus they allowed the 57-year-old to be released in Decemberbut his lawyers argued in court on Thursday there were legal errors in the extradition process.
Dreyfus was replaced by attorney-at-law Michelle Rowland in May, who did not reverse her decision before sending the Boston-born Duggan back to the US.
“The government notes today’s federal court proceeding with respect to Mr. Duggan,” Worland’s office said in a statement, adding that other comments were inappropriate because the case remains in court.
Duggan’s wife and mother of his six children, Saffrine Duggan, told supporters outside the courthouse Thursday that Rowland “could go free.”
“You are being used as a pawn in an ideological war between the United States and China and Australian government agencies have allowed this to happen and are willing participants,” said Saffrine Duggan. “My husband did not break Australian law and was an Australian citizen when the pilot training took place.”
Daniel Duggan’s lawyer, Christopher Parkin, told the court that it was “unique” that someone could be extradited from Australia, accused of breaking South African laws.
Duggan served in the US Marines for 12 years before immigrating to Australia in 2002. He gained Australian citizenship in January 2012, giving up his US citizenship in the process.
