Australian Court Dismisses Duggan Extradition Appeal

An Australian federal court judge on Thursday dismissed an appeal by former U.S. Marine Corps pilot Daniel Duggan, paving the way for his extradition to the United States on charges that he illegally trained Chinese military pilots more than a decade ago. The ruling, delivered in Canberra, clears a key legal hurdle in a case that has kept the 57-year-old in custody since his 2022 arrest.

Duggan, a naturalized Australian citizen born in Boston, faces allegations stemming from a 2016 U.S. indictment unsealed in late 2022. Prosecutors in the U.S. District Court in Washington claim he conspired with others to provide military-style flight training to Chinese pilots in South Africa between 2010 and 2012 without obtaining required export licenses. The training occurred while Duggan worked as an instructor for the Test Flying Academy of South Africa, a school that has drawn scrutiny for its work with foreign aviators. According to the indictment, Duggan received nine payments totaling about 88,000 Australian dollars, equivalent to roughly 61,000 U.S. dollars, along with travel expenses to the United States, South Africa, and China. The sessions were sometimes described as personal...