Former US Marine pilot Daniel Duggan loses extradition appeal

Key Points:

• An Australian judge rejected former U.S. Marine pilot Daniel Duggan's appeal to avoid extradition to the U.S. over allegations of illegally training Chinese military aviators more than a decade ago.
• Duggan, who denies the allegations and claims political motivation, was accused of training Chinese pilots while working for the Test Flying Academy of South Africa.
• Federal Court Justice James Stellios ruled there was no jurisdictional error in the 2024 extradition order issued by then Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus.
• Duggan’s family and lawyers plan to consider further appeals and have requested the current Attorney-General Michelle Rowland to reverse the extradition order, but Duggan remains in custody pending surrender to the U.S.
• The 2016 U.S. indictment alleges Duggan conspired to provide unauthorized military pilot training to China in 2010 and 2012, receiving payments totaling about 88,000 Australian dollars and traveling internationally under the guise of “personal development training.”