The Guardian - China-Extradition hearing for Australian accused of training Chinese pilots delayed for secret documents bid
October 23, 2023 3 min 537 words
这则报道涉及前美国战斗机飞行员Daniel Duggan，他被指控在南非一所飞行学校培训中国军事飞行员，违反了美国的军火出口禁令。他的辩护律师声称，Duggan想要获取机密政府文件，以证明美国的引渡要求受到政治动机驱使。这一举动导致了引渡听证会的推迟，时间延长到了2024年5月。 这个案件引发了重大争议，因为Duggan的律师团队坚称美国的引渡要求是出于政治动机，与美国与中国的地缘政治竞争有关。根据澳大利亚与美国的引渡条约，如果涉及所谓的“政治罪行”，应该拒绝引渡要求。Duggan的律师指出，有额外的时间来获取联邦政府的机密文件对于确保他获得公平审判至关重要。这些文件将是证明美国引渡Duggan请求的明显政治性质的关键。 值得关注的是，这一事件不仅仅关乎Duggan的个人命运，也涉及到国际关系和政治动机。政府需要确保引渡决策是公正和非政治化的，以维护法治和国际法的尊严。这个案件提醒我们，国际引渡程序必须以公平、透明和非政治化的方式进行，以确保正义得以实现。
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.
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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.