An Australian former fighter pilot accused of breaking an arms embargo by training Chinese military pilots wants access to classified government documents to demonstrate that a US request to extradite him is politically motivated, his lawyer has said.
Daniel Duggan, who became an Australian citizen in 2012, is accused of breaching US arms trafficking laws by training Chinese pilots while working at a South African flight school in the early 2010s. Duggan faces up to 60 years in prison if he is convicted.
A November court date had been set to consider a US request to extradite Duggan from Lithgow prison. It will now instead seek material from government agencies in defence and intelligence, pushing Duggan’s extradition hearing back six months to May 2024.
The stakes are critical, his lawyer, Dennis Miralis, said outside Sydney’s Downing Centre local court on Monday.
Duggan, who has no criminal history, has spent extended periods in isolation in a maximum-security prison after being classified as a high-risk prisoner. He denies the charges and is fighting his extradition from prison.
His legal team has maintained the US extradition request is politically motivated, catalysed by the US’s deepening geopolitical contest with China. Australia’s extradition treaty with the US states that extradition requests should be refused if they are for an alleged “political offence”.
“This is existential, which means that every right that Dan has under the Australian legal system on the basis that he’s presumed innocent … needs to properly and carefully be considered,” Miralis said.
The extra time to access classified material from the commonwealth will be essential to him getting a fair trial, according to Duggan’s legal team. They will be key to demonstrating overtly political aspects of the US’s request to extradite Duggan, his lawyer said.
Among the documents being sought are files from the inspector general of intelligence and security, which reviews the activities of Australia’s intelligence agencies. Australian federal police identified more than 2,000 documents showing communications between itself, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and US authorities concerning steps in the investigation, Miralis said.
He expected some files by the end of October.
Trent Glover, lawyer acting for the US, told the court the agencies should be given advance notice of the applications, and reiterated the US was ready to proceed with the case.
Duggan was arrested at a supermarket car park in central-west NSW in October 2022 at the request of US authorities.
Duggan’s wife, Saffrine, told AAP last week the allegations were political, unproven, and over a decade old. She called on the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to raise Duggan’s case with the US president, Joe Biden, during a state visit this week.
“I ask the prime minister to deliver a message … that he will not support the extradition of my husband,” she said.
