Daniel Duggan flew former military aircraft such as the BAE Strikemaster at air shows and on joy flights after moving to Australia in 2002. Photo: Duggan family.
An Australian pilot held in maximum security prison without charge for three years will soon find out if he is to be extradited to the United States.
Daniel Duggan was arrested by Australian Federal Police, acting on a US request, in Orange on 21 October 2022, and it is claimed he has been held in maximum security at a prison initially in Wellington NSW and then at Sydney’s Silverwater Jail since then, including more than 19 months in solitary confinement. He appeared before the Federal Court on Thursday (16 October) at the start of his appeal.
It has been alleged Mr Duggan – a former US Marines Corps AV-8B Harrier pilot with 13 years’ experience – breached US arms trafficking laws by training Chinese pilots in South Africa in 2012. He has also been accused by the US of money laundering, a charge for which his legal team has claimed there is no evidence.
Mr Duggan moved to Australia when he left the US military in 2002, and became a citizen in 2012. He had flown former military jets on displays and on joy flights in Australia after moving here.
He was subsequently employed by Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA) for a short time in 2012, and it is alleged he was involved in teaching Chinese military pilots how to land on and take off from an aircraft carrier.
The Harrier aircraft which Mr Duggan flew in the Marines Corps conducts rolling vertical take offs and vertical landings on US Navy ships, capabilities which Chinese military aircraft do not possess.
TFASA advertises itself as the only independent test pilot school outside Europe and the Americas. The organisation’s website says it offers flight test and consultation services, test pilot and flight test engineer training, operational pilot and specialist training, and commercial pilot training.
Mr Duggan subsequently worked in China, and renounced his US citizenship in 2016 – backdated to 2012. He subsequently worked as general manager of a consultancy working with the Chinese aviation industry from 2017 to 2020, and had continued to work in China up until shortly before his arrest.
Mr Duggan had been due to be extradited to the US under the Federal Extradition Act within two months of the request being granted, but this has been on hold pending the finalisation of a judicial review. His legal team has argued that he is not eligible for extradition because it didn’t become illegal for Australians to train foreign military personnel until 2018.
Mr Duggan has been classified as a Extreme High Risk Restricted (EHRR) and Protection Non-Association (PRNA) prisoner, and in February 2023 a clinical psychologist described Mr Duggan’s conditions of detention at Silverwater as “extreme” and “inhumane”.
Mr Duggan became an Australian citizen in 2012, and has an Australian wife and six Australian-born children. Photo: freedanduggan.org.
Former Attorney General Mark Dreyfus was handed an 89-page submission under Section 22 of the Extradition Act from Mr Duggan’s legal team in 2024, but subsequently approved the extradition. He subsequently appealed this decision to the Federal Court. His lawyers say the current Attorney-General Michelle Rowland has not spoken publicly about the case.
Mr Duggan’s wife Saffrine Duggan said she was appealing to the Federal Court to have his extradition approval overturned.
“Unfairly, we don’t have an opportunity in the Australian court system to argue the details of the case – the serious errors of fact,” she said.
“We can only argue about the errors made during the extradition process – and there were a number of serious errors that clearly show that Dan, an Australian citizen – father of our six children – was not treated lawfully.
“Our current Attorney-General could set Dan free at any time,” she added.
“As a nation we need to protect the rights of all Australians – our citizens – from overreach from foreign nations and to bring Dan home.
“My hope for today is that justice and fairness prevail.”
In a letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Mrs Duggan appealed to him to intervene in what she described as a “politically motivated case”.
“You and the Attorney-General have the power to bring Dan home to his six children,” she wrote.
“He did not run the school and instructed civilian pilots with open-source information. He is the only person facing any criminal charges.
“My husband has been an Australian permanent resident since 2002 and a sole Australian citizen since 2012,” she added.
“He has an Australian wife, and six Australian children who have been traumatised by a justice system and government whose job it is to protect them.”
Original Article published by Andrew McLaughlin on PS News.
