Former fighter pilot’s wife defends ‘angel and patriot’ against charges of training Chinese military

The wife of a former fighter pilot accused of helping to train the Chinese military says her family had been ripped apart by a bid to extradite him to face charges in a US court.

Saffrine Duggan, the wife of ex-US fighter pilot Daniel Duggan, says he is innocent of the charges the US wants to bring. Picture: Liam Mendes

The wife of a former fighter pilot accused of helping to train the Chinese military says her husband has the “moral compass of an angel’’ and that her family had been ripped apart by an American bid to extradite him to face charges in a US court.

Saffrine Duggan, from Orange, said her husband Dan Duggan was a patriotic Australian who was being used as a “geo­political pawn’’ by the US in an ­attempt to stop other pilots from working in China.

She said the father of six was “broken’’ by his 57-day detention alongside Islamic State terrorists in Silverwater prison and that he would never do anything against Australian interests.

“He had a civil aviation company (in China),” she told The Australian, from the farm outside Orange where she is raising her three young children with Mr Duggan, along with his three children from his first marriage.

“He was not training the Chinese military.

“Why is there an assumption that he’s training the Chinese military because he’s got an aviation company?

“He’s a father of six amazing human beings with the moral compass of an angel.

Daniel Duggan.

“It’s a geopolitical play that America is using Dan as a poster child to ward off others from going to China.”

Former US Marine Daniel ­Edmund Duggan, 54, was arrested by the Australian Federal Police in Orange at the request of the Americans in October and deemed a “high-risk prisoner’’ after a crackdown by the Five-Eyes intelligence communities against Western pilots training Chinese military.

His wife, a photographer and fashion designer, said he had done nothing wrong, but was being held in segregation inside a tiny 2m by 4m maximum security prison cell usually reserved for Australia’s most hardened and dangerous criminals.

Saffrine Duggan, Daniel Duggan and members of their family. Picture: Instagram

When speaking to his lawyer, Mr Duggan’s legs and arms are shackled to his waist. He’s given a tiny pencil no more than 5cm long to take notes.

“He is 100 per cent treated as if he is a convicted terrorist,” Ms Duggan said.

“Our family has been ripped apart. One minute dad’s here, and the next minute he has been taken away.”

“He is broken, he is just hanging on,” she said.

The US District of Columbia Court indictment against Mr Duggan was unsealed this week, revealing the former American citizen was facing four US charges, including conspiracy to unlawfully export defence services to China, conspiracy to launder money, and two counts of violating the arms export control act and international traffic in arms regulations.

On Friday morning, Ms Duggan’s worst fears were realised when Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney heard the US government would be applying for her husband, an Australian citizen who renounced his US citizenship in 2012, to be extradited.

Saffrine Duggan and Daniel. Picture: Instagram

She said she was “devastated” by the news, and stressed that her husband was “100 per cent patriotic to Australia”.

She accused the Australian government of allowing her husband to become a political prisoner. “How is that allowed?” she questioned. It’s happening in Australia, as an Australian, by ­foreign intervention. That’s not Australian sovereignty.”

She said he would “absolutely not” do anything against the ­national interests of Australia.

Ms Duggan, 47, said until a week ago she had not been able to speak with her husband. Since then, she has had several calls which last around six minutes ­before they’re disconnected.

“That’s not enough time for him to ask how his children are, and to ask how are they going, for him to relay his message back with screaming in the background from other people who are yelling out,” she said.

She categorically denied the US government’s claims he trained Chinese fighter pilots via a South African flight school on three occasions in 2010 and 2012.

Ms Duggan said that in the week of his arrest, her husband was due to start a new job on the NSW south coast for a government military contractor, which provides specialised air training support services to Defence. She said he had passed the strict government background security checks required for the job.

Outside court on Friday, his lawyer Dennis Miralis said the extradition would be fought as the indictment was “wrong at law” and Australia did not have the same legislation “prohibiting the defence services” to China as the United States.

“The facts underpinning that indictment are rejected and materially incorrect,” Mr Miralis said. “The law in the US by ­presidential decree has placed an embargo on China, it’s a geopolitical piece of legislation intended to further America’s security interests.

“We do not have such laws in Australia,” he said. “Australia does not have an embargo on the provision of services to China, nor are there currently sanctions against China with respect to these types of services.

“Therefore the extradition would fail on the basis it does not meet the requirements of dual criminality,” he said.

Mr Duggan returns to court on Tuesday, December 20.