On Thursday, an Australian judge dismissed an appeal by former US Marine Corps pilot Daniel Duggan, who sought to avoid extradition to the United States. Duggan faces allegations of illegally training Chinese military pilots over a decade ago.
Duggan is accused of providing training to Chinese military aviators while employed as an instructor at the Test Flying Academy of South Africa. He has denied these allegations, claiming they are politically motivated and that he is being unfairly targeted by the US.
Federal Court Justice James Stellios ruled that there was no jurisdictional error in the 2024 decision by the then Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to approve Duggan’s extradition.
Outside the court in Canberra, Duggan’s wife, Saffrine Duggan, who is also the mother of their six children, stated that his lawyers are considering further appeals. They are also urging the current attorney-general, Michelle Rowland, to overturn the extradition order.
“We are very disappointed by this ruling and we will consider our options carefully. But make no mistake, we will not give up,” Saffrine Duggan said. “Today does not end our search for justice.”
Rowland’s office acknowledged the court’s decision and stated that Daniel Duggan will remain in extradition custody in Australia until he is surrendered to the United States.
A 2016 indictment from the US District Court in Washington, which was unsealed in late 2022, alleges that Duggan conspired with others to provide training to Chinese military pilots in 2010 and 2012, and potentially on other occasions, without obtaining the necessary license.
Prosecutors claim that Duggan received approximately nine payments totaling about 88,000 Australian dollars ($61,000) from a co-conspirator. Additionally, he allegedly traveled to the US, South Africa, and China for activities sometimes labeled as “personal development training.”
Duggan, who is 57 years old and originally from Boston, has been held in maximum security prisons since his arrest in 2022 at a supermarket near his family home in New South Wales.
