Former US Marine accused of training Chinese military pilots appeals against extradition from Australia

Former US Marine Corps pilot Daniel Duggan on Thursday appealed his extradition from Australia to the United States over allegations he illegally trained Chinese military aviators more than a decade ago.

Duggan is accused of training Chinese military pilots while working as an instructor for South Africa’s Test Flying Academy in 2012. He appeared in court in Canberra to appeal to his lawyer after traveling 218 miles from a prison in Wellington, New South Wales state.

Australian Federal Court Judge James Stellios will announce a verdict at a date yet to be determined, following a day-long hearing in Canberra, the country’s capital.

A 2016 indictment from the United States District Court in Washington, D.C., which became public in late 2022, alleges that Duggan conspired with others to provide training to Chinese military pilots in 2010 and 2012, and possibly on other occasions, without applying for a proper license.

The training involved “instruction in tactics, techniques and procedures associated with launching and landing aircraft on a naval aircraft carrier,” according to the indictment.

Prosecutors allege Duggan received about nine payments totaling about A$88,000 ($61,000) from another conspirator, as well as traveling to the United States, South Africa and China for what was sometimes described as “personal development training.”

Duggan lived and worked in China for about five years before his arrest, corporate records show.

Duggan has denied the allegations, saying they were a political stance by the United States, which unfairly singled him out. He has been held in maximum security prisons since he was arrested in 2022 at a supermarket near his family home in New South Wales.

The then Attorney General of Australia, Mark Dreyfus approved the extradition of the 57-year-old man in Decemberbut his lawyers argued in court on Thursday that there had been legal flaws in the extradition process.

Dreyfus was replaced as attorney general in May by Michelle Rowland, who has not reviewed her predecessor’s decision to send the Boston-born Duggan back to the United States.

“The government takes note of the proceedings in the Federal Court today in relation to Mr Duggan,” Rowland’s office said in a statement, adding that it was not appropriate to comment further because the case remains in court.

Duggan’s wife and mother of his six children, Saffrine Duggan, told supporters outside court Thursday that Rowland “could release Dan at any time.”

“It is 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 to participate,” Saffrine Duggan said. “My husband did not breach any Australian laws and was an Australian citizen at the time of the alleged pilot training.”

Daniel Duggan’s lawyer Christopher Parkin told the court it was “extraordinary” that someone could be extradited from Australia, accused of violating US laws, for action in South Africa.

Duggan served in the US Marine Corps for 12 years before migrating to Australia in 2002. He gained Australian citizenship in January 2012, renouncing his US citizenship in the process.

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• United States Marine Corps
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