Sydney
Wife of former U.S. pilot complains of Australian treatment
SYDNEY (AP) — The wife of a former U.S. military pilot accused by the United States of illegally training Chinese aviators said Monday her husband was being held in inhumane conditions as he fights extradition from Australia.
Saffrine Duggan said her husband Daniel Duggan had already been kept 115 days in a “tiny cell” in Sydney’s Silverwater Correctional Complex because of U.S. charges that had yet to be heard in court.
“He is suffering the harshest possible prison classification in Australia as an ‘extreme high risk restricted inmate’ despite having no prior (or current) convictions,” she said in a statement.
“This is unprecedented and an affront to Australia’s rule of law and manipulation of the Australian legal system by the United States, at the expense of the Australian taxpayer,” she said.
Having already filed a complaint with Australia’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, Saffrine Duggan said a further complaint would be filed with the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
“The manner and circumstances behind this prosecution of Dan are something you would expect to find in an authoritarian country, but not in a democratic Australia where its citizens expect a more fair and balanced equal application of the law and the overriding principle of a ‘fair go’ for all,” she said.
Daniel Duggan, 54, was arrested in October last year near his family home in Orange, in New South Wales state, and was accused of providing military training to pilots working for China.
He has denied the allegations, saying they were “political” posturing by the United States, which unfairly singled him out.
His wife said the treaty under which the FBI had attempted to extradite her husband was not being used properly.
“The treaty specifically states that alleged crimes under its provisions should not be of a ‘political character,’ should require dual criminality — which is not the case in this instance — and should be in Australia’s national interests,” she said. Dual criminality means illegal in both Australia and the United States.
The case is proceeding through Sydney courts where a magistrate will decide whether the husband is eligible for extradition. A hearing is scheduled for March 20.
Daniel Duggan’s lawyer, Dennis Miralis, told reporters outside Sydney’s Downing Center Local Court on Monday that Australian and U.S. government agencies had been reluctant to hand over documents critical to Duggan’s defense.
“Regrettably, to date, we haven’t been getting the cooperation that, in our view, would be essential to ensure that Mr. Duggan’s rights are properly protected,” Miralis said. “Government agencies, perhaps unsurprisingly, are refusing to produce documents on the basis of secrecy provisions.”
Born in Boston, Duggan served in the U.S. Marines for 12 years before immigrating to Australia in 2002. In January 2012, he gained Australian citizenship, choosing to give up his U.S. citizenship in the process.
A 2016 indictment from the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., was unsealed late last year. In it, prosecutors say Duggan conspired with others to provide training to Chinese military pilots in 2010 and 2012, and possibly at other times, without applying for an appropriate license.
Prosecutors say Duggan received about nine payments totaling about 88,000 Australian dollars ($61,000) and international travel from another conspirator for what was sometimes described as “personal development training.”
The indictment says Duggan traveled to the U.S., China and South Africa, and provided some training to Chinese pilots in South Africa.
South Dakota
Transgender advocates sue Gov. Kristi Noem
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A transgender advocacy group in South Dakota sued Republican Gov. Kristi Noem and the head of the state’s Department of Health on Friday over the state’s decision to terminate a contract with the group last December.
The Transformation Project filed a lawsuit Friday that alleges that the decision to terminate the contract — which resulted in the group losing a nearly $136,000 grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — was discrimination.
It comes as the transgender community has raised concern over a bill to ban minors’ access to gender-affirming health care. That bill has passed both chambers and is expected to be signed by Noem in coming days.
Noem’s spokesperson Ian Fury, said last December that the contract had been signed without Noem’s knowledge or consent. Noem’s office has also said that the organization did not meet all of the terms of its contract, such as providing quarterly reports. The office did not respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit Friday.
Susan Williams, director of the Transformation Project, said in a text message to the Associated Press that the loss of the grant was “uncalled for and was, in fact, discrimination.” She added: “We believe that our contract was not broken and that the State’s claims against us are unfounded.”
Brendan Johnson, an attorney representing The Transformation Project, said the contract’s cancellation was unconstitutional and unlawful.
“Even our state government is not above the rule of law, and we stand with the Transformation Project in this important constitutional challenge,” Johnson said.
Ceasing the state’s transgender health care partnership has only added to critics’ concerns that Noem’s agenda is to take away the liberties of transgender people. Last year, she signed into law bills that banned transgender girls and college-age women from playing in school sports leagues that match their gender identity.
She’s also voiced support for a proposition known as “Help not Harm,” that passed through the Senate Thursday and awaits her final approval. When put into law, it would add South Dakota to the list of at least 18 other states pushing legislation to block transgender youth from having access to medical care this year.
Over the past few weeks, viewpoints over the ethical, moral, medical and legal sides of the bill have clashed, despite lawmakers voting in great numbers for its passage.
Samantha Chapman, advocacy manager for the American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota, said the pretense that the bill is meant to “help” trans youth “is a flimsy veneer when you consider that Governor Noem is actively cutting off any available help for transgender South Dakotans at every turn.”
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health said last year that teens experiencing gender dysphoria can start taking hormones at age 14 and can have certain surgeries at ages 15 or 17. The group acknowledged potential risks but said it was unethical to withhold early treatments, which can improve psychological well-being and reduce suicide risk.
