Former U.S. Marine Corps pilot Daniel Duggan on Thursday appealed in an Australian court against extradition to the United States over alleged violations of U.S. arms control laws involving China, with his lawyer contending that his actions were not illegal under Australian law at the time.
In December 2024, Australia’s then attorney-general Mark Dreyfus approved a United States extradition request for Duggan, who faces U.S. charges, including that he trained Chinese military pilots to land on aircraft carriers.
Duggan, 57, a naturalised Australian citizen, was arrested by Australian Federal Police in a rural town in the state of New South Wales in October 2022, shortly after returning from China, where he had lived since 2014.
Duggan appeared in the federal court in Canberra on Thursday, clean-shaven in a dark blue suit.
He sat erect in his seat as he followed the proceedings with a pen and documents on his lap, but did not speak until after the arguments had been heard, when he thanked the judge for allowing him to attend and “see justice done”.
Extradition Is ‘Uncharted Territory’
His lawyer, Christopher Parkin, told the court the extradition was “uncharted territory” for Australia, arguing that Duggan’s conduct was not an offence in Australia at the time or when the U.S. requested extradition, and so did not meet the requirement for dual criminality in Australia’s extradition treaty with the United States.
“This is a fairly extraordinary case,” Parkin said.
“The offences must be punishable under the laws of both parties at the time when the relevant conduct occurred,” he said, adding that it should not be possible to “punish someone in this country for something they did 10 years ago that wasn’t an offence at the time.”
The barrister for the Attorney-General, Trent Glover, said this was a false interpretation of the extradition procedure and nothing prevented Duggan from being sent to the United States.
Duggan’s lawyers previously argued in court that there is no evidence the Chinese pilots he trained in South Africa between 2010 and 2012 were military, and he was no longer a U.S. citizen at the time of the alleged offences.
Duggan renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2016 at the U.S. embassy in Beijing, and the certificate was backdated to 2012, they said.
A 2017 indictment in the United States said Duggan’s alleged violation of an arms embargo imposed on China by the United States also included providing aviation services in China in 2010, and providing an assessment of China’s aircraft carrier training.
Duggan, who has six children in Australia, has been held in prison since his arrest three years ago.
A small group of protesters stood outside the court with placards calling for Duggan’s release.
His wife, Saffrine, said Duggan had been treated unlawfully and the Australian government had allowed him to become a pawn in an ideological war between the United States and China.
“It’s been a real struggle,” she told Reuters. “We just want Dan to come home.”
(With inputs from Reuters)
