Former U.S. Marine Pilot Appeals Extradition from Australia in Case Tied to China

Former U.S. Marine Corps pilot Daniel Duggan on Thursday appealed an Australian court’s decision to extradite him to the United States, where he faces charges of violating U.S. arms control laws related to China. His lawyer argued that the alleged conduct was not a crime under Australian law at the time.

In December 2024, then–Attorney General Mark Dreyfus approved Washington’s request to extradite Duggan, who is accused of training Chinese military pilots in aircraft carrier operations.

The 57-year-old, a naturalized Australian citizen, was arrested by Australian Federal Police in October 2022 in a rural New South Wales town shortly after returning from China, where he had lived since 2014.

Appearing in Canberra’s Federal Court in a dark blue suit, Duggan sat quietly through the proceedings, pen and papers in hand. He spoke only at the end, thanking the judge for allowing him to attend and “witness justice being done.”

Defense: “Extradition Is Uncharted Territory”

Duggan’s lawyer, Christopher Parkin, told the court that the case represents “uncharted territory” for Australia. He argued that Duggan’s alleged conduct was not criminal either at the time it occurred or when the U.S. made its extradition request — therefore failing to meet the dual criminality requirement under the Australia–U.S. extradition treaty.

“This is quite an exceptional case,” Parkin said. “When the conduct occurred, it must have been punishable under both jurisdictions. No one should face punishment in this country for something done ten years ago that wasn’t a crime then.”

A lawyer representing Attorney-General Trent Glover countered that the defense had misinterpreted the extradition process and that nothing legally prevented Duggan from being sent to the United States.

Duggan’s legal team previously argued there was no evidence that the Chinese pilots he trained in South Africa between 2010 and 2012 were members of the military. They also said Duggan was not a U.S. citizen at the time of the alleged offenses.

According to the defense, Duggan renounced his U.S. citizenship at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing in 2016, with documentation dated 2012.

A 2017 U.S. indictment accuses Duggan of violating American arms embargoes on China, including by providing aviation services and assessments of Chinese aircraft carrier training in 2010.

The father of six has been held in an Australian jail for three years since his arrest.

Outside the court, a small group of protesters held placards demanding his release. His wife, Saffrine Duggan, said her husband was being mistreated and used as a pawn in a “political tug-of-war” between Washington and Beijing.

“It’s been incredibly hard,” she told Reuters. “We just want Dan to come home.”