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CANBERRA: Former US Marine Corps pilot Daniel Duggan appealed in an Australian court on Thursday against extradition to the United States on charges of violating US arms control laws in relation to China, with his lawyer arguing that his conduct was not an offense in Australia at the time.
In December 2024, Australia’s then attorney-general Mark Dreyfus approved a United States extradition request for Duggan, who faces US charges including that he trained Chinese military pilots to land on aircraft carriers.
Duggan, 57, a naturalized Australian citizen, was arrested by Australian Federal Police in a rural town in the state of New South Wales in October 2022, shortly after returning from China, where he had lived since 2014.
Duggan appeared in the federal court in Canberra on Thursday, clean-shaven in a dark blue suit.
He sat erect in his seat as he followed the proceedings with a pen and documents on his lap but did not speak until after the arguments had been heard, when he thanked the judge for allowing him to attend and “see justice done.”

DUGGAN’S LAWYER SAYS EXTRADITION IS ‘UNCHARTERED TERRITORY’
His lawyer Christopher Parkin told the court the extradition was “uncharted territory” for Australia, arguing that Duggan’s conduct was not an offense in Australia at the time or when the US requested extradition and so did not meet the requirement for dual criminality in Australia’s extradition treaty with the United States.
“This is a fairly extraordinary case,” Parkin said.
“The offenses must be punishable under the laws of both parties at the time when the relevant conduct occurred,” he said, adding that it should not be possible to “punish someone in this country for something they did 10 years ago that wasn’t an offense at the time.”
The barrister for the Attorney-General Trent Glover said this was a false interpretation of the extradition procedure and nothing prevented Duggan from being sent to the United States.
Duggan’s lawyers previously argued in court that there is no evidence the Chinese pilots he trained in South Africa between 2010 and 2012 were military, and he was no longer a US citizen at the time of the alleged offenses.
Duggan renounced his US citizenship in 2016 at the US embassy in Beijing and the certificate was backdated to 2012, they said.
A 2017 indictment in the United States said Duggan’s alleged violation of an arms embargo imposed on China by the United States also included providing aviation services in China in 2010, and providing an assessment of China’s aircraft carrier training.
Duggan, who has six children in Australia, has been held in prison since his arrest three years ago.
A small group of protesters stood outside the court with placards calling for Duggan’s release.
His wife, Saffrine, said Duggan had been treated unlawfully and the Australian government had allowed him to become a pawn in an ideological war between the United States and China.
“It’s been a real struggle,” she told Reuters. “We just want Dan to come home.”

BENGALURU, India: Pollution levels in India’s capital shaped Natasha Uppal and her husband’s decision on parenthood — either raise their child away from the city, or stay put and remain childless.
New Delhi and the surrounding metropolitan area, home to more than 30 million people, consistently tops world rankings for air pollution.
Uppal, who grew up in the city, often considered leaving — especially on days spent indoors with air purifiers humming, or when she battled severe migraines.
The turning point came when the couple decided to try for a baby.
“When we thought about what we can curate for our child in Delhi,” she told AFP, “the air just became such a blocker for so many of those things.”
In 2022, they relocated to Bengaluru and, days later, she discovered she was pregnant.
They are among a small but growing number of families leaving Delhi because of health risks linked to air pollution.
Uppal, the 36-year-old founder of maternal health support group Matrescence India, said leaving was the “best decision.”

Air pollution in Bengaluru can still sometimes hit three times World Health Organization (WHO) limits.
But that is far below Delhi’s months-long haze — and means her son “is in and out of the house as many times as he likes.”
Clean air is “something that is a basic human right,” she said. “Everyone should be able to take (it) for granted.”

3.8 million deaths 

Each winter, Delhi is blanketed in acrid smog, a toxic mix of crop-burning, factory emissions and choking traffic.
Levels of PM2.5 — cancer-causing microparticles small enough to enter the bloodstream — have surged to as much as 60 times WHO limits.
Despite pledges of reform, measures such as partial vehicle bans or water trucks spraying mist have done little to clear the air.
This year, authorities promise cloud-seeding trials to cut pollution.
A study in The Lancet Planetary Health last year estimated 3.8 million deaths in India between 2009 and 2019 were linked to air pollution.
The UN children’s agency warns that polluted air puts children at heightened risk of acute respiratory infections.
For Vidushi Malhotra, 36, the breaking point came in 2020 as her two-year-old son fell ill repeatedly.
“We had three air purifiers running continuously, and then I needed more,” she said.
A year later, Malhotra, her husband and son moved to Goa. She urged friends to follow, starting what she calls a “mini-movement.” A few did.
“I have to keep going back and see my loved ones go through this,” she added. “That really makes me sad.”

Nebulizers, inhalers 

Others, like Delhi resident Roli Shrivastava, remain but live in constant anxiety.
The 34-year-old keeps inhalers for her smoke allegies and nebulizers ready for her toddler, whose cough worsens each winter.
“The doctor told us winter will be difficult,” she said. “He just told us, ‘When your kid starts coughing at night, don’t even call me — just start nebulising.’“
As winter nears, Shrivastava is preparing for another season indoors — restricting outdoor play for her son, running air purifiers and checking air quality daily.
When the family visits relatives in the southern city of Chennai, her son’s health improves “drastically.”
“His nose stops running, his cough goes away,” she said.
Shrivastava and her husband, who both work with a global advocacy group, say they would have left Delhi long ago if not for the “jobs we love and the opportunities.”
Relocation, she admits, is never far from their minds.
“I don’t think at the rate it’s going, Delhi is a good place to raise kids — when it comes to air pollution at least.”