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Complete lack of government transparency prevents justice for Daniel Duggan
20 October 2023
Australian citizen and father of six wrongly imprisoned in solitary confinement for 12 months as wife appeals for his release
Political prisoner Daniel Duggan’s legal team will request a stay in the extradition hearing scheduled for next month, due to the Australian and US government delay in providing thousands of documents relevant to the case.
The hearing comes two days after October 21, 2023 that marked a terrible anniversary: 12 months of this Australian father of six, being held in maximum security, solitary confinement in a NSW correctional facility, after he was provisionally arrested in a supermarket carpark in the regional town of Orange.
Mr Duggan’s legal team will appear on his behalf today at the Downing Centre to request that the date set for the extradition hearing set for November 24, be vacated.
Mr Duggan’s wife Saffrine appealed to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to set her husband free outside the court this morning on behalf of her family.
“We demand they reject the advice of faceless departmental bureaucrats in Canberra. We demand they stop them from hiding important information that is vital to Dan’s liberty. We demand transparency, and an end to the secrecy and deception that has marred this case from the beginning”, Saffrine Duggan said.
“And we ask that the Prime Minister deliver a message on his visit to the US, a message that he will not support the extradition of Dan Duggan. A message that Dan is being returned to his family where he belongs as an Australian citizen.”
Daniel Duggan’s solicitor Dennis Miralis said it was a “long standing concern” that thousands of documents requested as necessary to his case, have not been produced by government agencies.
“That material is crucial to Dan’s right to defend himself and crucial to the argument set down that seeks to raise his defence in extradition hearing. If this material is not going to be produced in the first instance, it’s not possible to rely upon this material at a later point in time. So, this material is of paramount importance,” Mr Miralis said ahead of the hearing.
Mr Duggan is facing no charges in Australia and his extradition is subject to conditions drawn up under the Hawke administration, conditions that have not been altered in almost four decades. Mr Duggan’s supporters are critical of the way in which the extradition treaty with the United States has been used in this case.
He is being held in Lithgow Correctional Centre on 12-year-old allegations stemming from work he undertook between 2010 and 2012 whilst still a US citizen. The charges and subsequent indictment were filed in 2017 under the Trump administration and were kept sealed until after Dan’s imprisonment. The extradition was approved by Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus in December 2022. Twelve months on from his arrest and Mr Duggan remains in solitary confinement, with extremely limited time out of his cell and a one-hour visit with family Sundays.
Official complaint regarding the inhumane treatment of Daniel Duggan
10 June 2023
Att: NSW Ombudsman for Detention and Custody Kate Smithers
Dear Ms Smithers,
I am writing to support the official complaint made to you by my husband Daniel Duggan during your visit to Lithgow Correctional Centre on 1 June 2023, and to provide additional information.
This complaint follows many direct complaints to the prison, Department of Corrections and Corrections Commission via letter, email and over the phone, none of which have been dealt with to my or Dan’s satisfaction.
As at 8 June 2023, Australian citizen and father of six, Daniel Duggan has been incarcerated in maximum security isolation for 230 days awaiting extradition the United States, based on 11-year-old, unproven allegations that he strenuously denies.
Consequently, Dan is currently imprisoned at the NSW maximum-security facility, Lithgow Correctional Centre despite no Australian charges, convictions or history of violence. This can only be considered a clear and outrageous breach United Nations Human Rights treaty obligations.
Dan is married to me and has six children aged between six and 18 years. We live on my father’s property near Orange in regional NSW. As such Dan is not a flight risk and could be released on home detention.
In this case, the NSW State prison system is currently being used, improperly and inappropriately, as a defacto Federal prison, without the proper facilities and procedures for his detention to be undertaken safely and humanely.
Dan’s case is already the subject of an inquiry by the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) into whether there were any illegal actions taken by Australian security agencies – including ASIO – in the lead up to Dan’s surprise provisional arrest on 21 October 2022.
Dan’s lawyers argue that the extradition should be withdrawn until the independent IGIS inquiry concludes, in order to avoid an abuse of legal process. A core principle of International Law is the non-interference in the domestic affairs of a sovereign States. As such the United States should withdraw its extradition request.
An application for a temporary stay of the extradition proceedings will be heard by the NSW Local Court in late July 2023, by which time Dan will have spent more than nine months in solitary confinement on the NSW Government’s watch.
Importantly, Dan’s mental health is suffering and seriously deteriorating as he nears eight months in maximum security solitary confinement.
There is a growing body of research that shows that solitary confinement as it is used today including in NSW, can cause a variety of severe psychological problems, including anxiety, depression, paranoia, hallucinations, and suicidal thoughts.
“The practice of solitary confinement exists in all Australian states and territories by many different names: isolation, separation, seclusion, segregation and lockdown. While the words ‘solitary confinement’ are not always used explicitly in Australian law, governments should prohibit the use of this cruel practice, regardless of the label,” the Human Rights Law Centre said. “Solitary confinement is a cruel practice that causes irreparable harm to the people who are subjected to this form of physical and sensory isolation. Governments must ban the archaic and inhumane use of solitary confinement in Australian prisons.”
It’s no wonder that the United Nations has declared the US practice of solitary confinement to be a form of torture.
Indeed, Dan’s 230-day stint in solitary confinement torpedoes the UN limit of 15 days. His incarceration breaches UN treaties that the Australian government has signed – effectively having Canberra and its partners in the NSW government who operate prisons in the state – in breach of their own commitments.
The UN’s 15-day threshold is not accidental: it is important because at about 15 days the impact of negative mental and physical health are likely to become permanent for most people.
In fact, Dan was first held for 65 days before even knowing what he was (falsely) accused of, and access to his family or lawyers was extremely restricted. This is completely unacceptable in an apparently democratic and “free” society like Australia where citizens are innocent until proven guilty.
Until December 2022 and without convictions or history of violence, Dan was held under the harshest possible prison classification in NSW – “extreme high risk restricted inmate”, which is normally reserved for the most violent criminals.
Dan’s first two nights in prison were spent in a dry cell at Bathurst, with no running water, despite no suspected drug use or history of violence.
Recently and under duress, Dan was forced to sign a document claiming he wanted to be in solitary confinement. He did so under threat that he would be sent to general population maximum security with serious criminals, murders and rapists – known as the boneyard – if he didn’t. This is yet another serious breach of UN treaty obligations and outright bullying by the NSW Corrections Department.
Dan’s legal team argues the case does not meet key elements required under the Extradition Treaty, including that the alleged offence is not a crime in Australia, and that it is of a highly political nature.
To date, almost 12,000 people have signed a petition protesting his treatment.
https://www.change.org/p/release-my-husband-australian-daniel-duggan-and-refusehis-extradition-to-the-us
Issues around Dan’s case have been reported widely in the media including recently by ABC 7.30: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-29/daniel-duggan-extraditionarrest-china-united-states-730/102378956
Dan’s legal team has made a submission to the Australian Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, seeking a review of the extradition proceedings against Dan, and the Treaty on Extradition between Australia and the United States of America. They have asked the Committee to examine the lack of human rights safeguards in the Treaty.
Dan’s case is the subject of a complaint to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, on the grounds that his ongoing harsh custodial conditions constitute four violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
The violations are:
- Failure to protect Dan from inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
- Failure to segregate Dan from convicted prisoners;
- Violation of Dan’s right to adequate facilities for the preparation of his defence; and
- Violation of Dan’s right to confidential communication.
Repeated efforts by Dan’s legal team to obtain documents to explain the reasons for his harsh custodial classifications in NSW have been blocked.
The President of the International Commission of Jurists Nicholas Cowdery, KC has written to the Commissioner of Corrective Services raising concerns about these issues as well as their potential to harm Dan’s right to a fair bail hearing.
Thank you for taking the time to consider Dan’s complaint. I trust that this additional information is helpful.
I trust you will treat this matter with the urgency it deserves, as a man’s liberty and physical and mental health are at stake.
Yours sincerely,
Saffrine Duggan
Peaceful demonstrators at US Embassy demand its government drop the extradition against Australian family man, Dan Duggan
28 April 2023
Family, friends and supporters of wrongly imprisoned Australian citizen, a former US marine pilot and father of six, Dan Duggan, today held a peaceful demonstration at the US Embassy in Canberra.
Dan’s wife Saffrine and their six children attended the demonstration. They called for Dan to be released immediately from maximum security solitary confinement in NSW where he has already been incarcerated for six months with no Australian charges, no convictions anywhere in the world and no history of violence.
They are very concerned that an Australian citizen is being held in the harshest
conditions available, only based on 11-year-old, disputed allegations from the United States regarding a part-time job training pilots in South Africa, some of whom they claim may have been connected to the Chinese military. The claims, that Dan strenuously denies, do not constitute a crime in Australia and the case is currently the subject of a rare Inquiry by the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security.
Dan’s lawyer Dennis Miralis and his wife Saffrine have both written to Ambassador Caroline Kennedy and the Australian Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus, asking that the extradition be dropped, or at least paused, while the Inspector General conducts its inquiry.
“I am determined to fight this terrible injustice, and to demand that Australian sovereignty is respected. Today Dan has been gone for 191 days – without any Australian charges, convictions or history of violence on the say-so of the United States Government,” Saffine told attendees at the demonstration.
“He’s a great father, husband and friend and proud Australian but Dan was whisked off – kidnapped – after dropping the kids at school and delivering a cake for the school fete.”
“Dan should be immediately released from maximum security isolation in the NSW prison system, where he has already languished for 6 months with no Australian charges or convictions, before Dan, his six Australian children and me, are traumatised any further.”
“World history is full of stories where those in power from countries considered good and bad, have manipulated and weaponised legal systems to unjustly prosecute those who dare to challenge the politics of the day with inconvenient truths.
“It takes a certain brave, relentless persistence to push back, and ultimately overcome, such abuses of power. Today we are that brave, relentless persistence.”
Mr Miralis said he had received written confirmation from the Australian Government Solicitors that the IGIS Inquiry was proceeding and that ASIO and the Director-General of ASIO would “co-operate fully with theIGIS and his staff in relation to the inquiry”. The IGIS Inquiry would likely look at a range of issues of which only “the tip of the iceberg” could be discussed publicly due to onerous Australian secrecy laws.
The issues that Dan’s legal team were allowed to discuss publicly included concerns that Dan was illegally lured back to Australia, aided and abetted by Australian intelligence authorities, as well as the use of extreme classifications by the NSW Government to ensure that Dan has suffered the hardest possible detention.
“Under International Law, and as a sign of respect for Australian law, the United States should withdraw its extradition until the Inquiry is concluded,” Mr Miralis said. “If the United States declines to withdraw, we will be left with no choice but to make an application to the court for a temporary stay of the extradition proceedings in order to protect the integrity and independence of the IGIS and Dan’s fundamental rights to a fair trial. In our view, it would amount to an abuse of process for the US to proceed with the extradition whilst the IGIS inquiry is under way.”
“Further, the IGIS Inquiry is investigating a complaint that goes to the very heart of the legality of this case and comes after a four month preliminary investigation. If Mr Duggan’s complaint to the IGIS complaint is established, the extradition proceedings against Mr Duggan should be terminated, on the basis of illegality, defect in process, breach of Australian and international law and abuse of process.
The purpose of the demonstration was twofold. Firstly, have removed the extradition request by the United States government and approved, without any investigation into the alleged charges by the Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus.
Secondly, to have Dan removed from his maximum security solitary confinement in Lithgow prison to home detention so, like any other Australian citizen, he can prepare his defence against both an extradition which his lawyers beloved is unlawful.
“Today we ask the US Ambassador to make it right – to drop the extradition and set Dan free, Saffrine said.
Lawyers call for immediate release of Aussie father of 6 while high-level Government Inquiry scrutinises the legality of his arrest & inhumane treatment
20 April 2023
The extradition of Aussie citizen and father of six Dan Duggan’s should be immediately withdrawn following the Australian Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security’s (IGIS) unusual decision to hold an official Inquiry into the handling of the case, his legal team said today.
Dan’s lawyer, Dennis Miralis, said he had written to the Ambassador of the United States, Caroline Kennedy, to the Office of International Affairs of the US Department of Justice and to the Australian Ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, asking that the extradition be withdrawn until the independent IGIS inquiry into Dan Duggan’s complaint concludes, in order to avoid an abuse of legal process.
Dan should also be immediately released from maximum security isolation in the NSW prison system, where he has already languished for 6 months with no Australian charges or convictions, before Dan, his wife and six Australian children are traumatised any further.
Mr Miralis said he had received written confirmation from the Australian Government Solicitors that the IGIS Inquiry was proceeding and that ASIO and the Director-General of ASIO would “co- operate fully with the IGIS and his staff in relation to the inquiry”. The IGIS Inquiry would likely look at a range of issues of which only “the tip of the iceberg” could be discussed publicly due to onerous Australian secrecy laws.
The issues that Dan’s legal team were allowed to discuss publicly included concerns that Dan was illegally lured back to Australia, aided and abetted by Australian intelligence authorities, as well as the use of extreme classifications by the NSW Government to ensure that Dan has suffered the hardest possible treatment in prison since his arrest.
“Under International Law, and as a sign of respect for Australian law, the United States should withdraw its extradition until the Inquiry is concluded,” Mr Miralis said. “If the United States declines to withdraw, we will be left with no choice but to make an application to the court for a temporary stay of the extradition proceedings in order to protect the integrity and independence of the IGIS investigation and Mr Duggan’s fundamental rights to a fair trial. In our view, it would amount to an abuse of process for the US to proceed with the extradition whilst the IGIS inquiry is under way.
“Further, the IGIS Inquiry is investigating a complaint that goes to the very heart of the legality of this case and comes after a four month preliminary investigation. If Mr Duggan’s complaint to the IGIS complaint is established, the extradition proceedings against Mr Duggan should be terminated, on the basis of illegality, defect in process, breach of Australian and international law and abuse of process.”
“There are a significant number of issues to be examined, including some that cannot be discussed in public due to Australia’s onerous secrecy laws.”
Mr Miralis said that a cardinal principle of International Law is the non-interference in the domestic affairs of a sovereign State and as such the United States should withdraw the extradition request to comply with this well-established principle whilst the IGIS inquiry is under way. This principle binds all States under customary international law.
This week, Dan’s legal team made a submission to the Australian Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, seeking a review of the extradition proceedings against Dan, and the Treaty on Extradition between Australia and the United States of America. They have asked the Committee to examine the lack of human rights safeguards in the Treaty which, as a result, permits the US to lure and abduct Australian citizens in order to secure their extradition – tactics which are acceptable and widely practised under US domestic law, but illegal under Australian law and should therefore be expressly prohibited in the Treaty to protect the human rights of Australian citizens.
Further, Mr Miralis has fully briefed the President of the International Commission of Jurist, Mr Nicholas Cowdery KC in relation to the human rights and rule of law violations concerning Mr Duggan’s extradition and looks forward to their involvement in this matter.
Dan is accused of, and strenuously denies, training Chinese military pilots in South Africa 11 years ago without permission from the US Department of Justice. The allegations are detailed in a US indictment filed in 2017, at the same time that US foreign policy towards China took a dramatic turn. The main alleged offence, from which the other charges flow, has a statute of limitations of five years, but is still being pursued more than a decade later.
The indictment is full of errors, half-truths and insinuations, and came at a time when the US administration was entering into a geopolitical contest and named China as a strategic threat, using the criminal law in furtherance of US foreign policy.
Family calls on Premier Minns to release Dan Duggan into home detention for Easter as his prison conditions deteriorate in near freezing temperatures
6 April 2023
Australia’s newest political prisoner, Dan Duggan, will be shivering his way through Easter, deprived of any warmth as he continues his unwarranted maximum security incarceration in one of New South Wales’ coldest prisons, unable to defend himself.
With no heating and nothing but two ripped thin cotton throw-overs to keep him warm, father of six and Australia citizen Dan was forced to buy a doona in mid-February which still hasn’t arrived. He is subject to constant lockdowns because of staffing issues at the prison, inhibiting critical access to his legal team on several occasions this fortnight, and causing him significant emotional and psychological distress.
Dan has no Australian charges against him, or convictions anywhere in the world. He is in prison facing extradition at the behest of the United States, on 11-year-old allegations cobbled together under the former Trump administration that he strongly denies.
He’s fed the bare minimum, with two small meals served at 11.30am and 2pm, and is forced to buy additional sustenance at his own expense.
With forecast temperatures as low as 2 degrees C in Lithgow next week, Dan’s family today called on the new NSW Labor Government bring an end to his psychological torture and release him into home detention immediately.
“Along with imploring Premier Chris Minns and his new Corrections Minister Anoulack Chanthivong to set Dan free from prison and into home detention,” Dan’s wife Saffrine said, “I would ask them to also look at the appalling, inhumane conditions that we subject all our prisoners to.”
“Dan’s prison has been locked down for 11 out of 14 days the past fortnight. This is preventing him from properly fighting these untrue and unjust charges that originated in the discredited Trump administration.”
Dan was locked up on the say-so of the US by Federal Attorney General Mark Dreyfus under Australia’s weak extradition treaty as the continuation of the controversial Morrison era AUKUS alliance was being negotiated by the Albanese government.
Lithgow also has only the barest of facilities for prisoners to speak to their legal representatives with just one computer terminal available for video conferences.
“Is this just underfunding or a deliberate design of the system?” Saffrine said.
“Unknown to most NSW citizens, prisoners held in maximum security are deprived of basic materials to keep them warm. In fact, they have to pay for things as simple as doonas. The best that Dan has at the moment is a ripped cotton throw over. He has been forced to use the kettle in his tiny cell to help produce some heat.
“Despite no convictions, Dan is forced to buy a doona and wait weeks for its delivery, because they are not supplied and we are forbidden to bring these basic, humane comforts into the prison.”
“This is a form of psychological torture, we are no better than authoritarian regimes like China who keep their prisoners in similarly harsh and inhuman conditions. Yet we like to lecture others on how they hold Australian citizens overseas. In Dan’s case, and many others, they may as well be in China or Iran.”
Dan will also be unable to be with his six children during Easter and their school holidays.
“The kids miss their dad and it’s even worse at these special family times of the year, like Easter and school holidays,” Saffrine said. “That makes Dan’s separation for our family so much worse than it already is.”
Long-time prisoner advocate Ian Fraser said the Minns NSW Government had a chance to correct the injustices of the previous Government, which led them to refuse the United Nations access to State’s prisons to check on Human Rights conditions last year.
“No wonder they wouldn’t let them in … no proper blankets or heating! I suggest the Minns Labor Govt rectify the situation and let the UN visit as soon as possible,” Ian said.
Aussie Dad’s inhumane treatment breaches International Covenant, UN told Daniel Duggan’s 128 day incarceration without conviction fails key tests
25 February 2023
The treatment of Dan Duggan, an Aussie father of six who has been imprisoned in maximum security isolation for 128 days without any conviction, is the now the subject of a complaint to the UN on the grounds that his ongoing harsh custodial conditions constitute four violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Dan’s wife, Saffrine Duggan, said today that there had been four violations under the Covenant, to which Australia is a signatory, since Mr Duggan’s imprisonment in maximum security isolation alongside convicted terrorists, murderers and paedophiles at Silverwater’s infamous Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre.
The violations are:
- Failure to protect Mr Duggan from inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Failure to segregate Mr Duggan from convicted prisoners
- Violation of Mr Duggan’s rights to adequate facilities for the preparation of his defence
- Violation of Mr Duggan’s right to confidential communication
Mrs Duggan said she had only been able to see her husband twice since his incarceration on unproven charges from the United States Government which Dan strenuously rejects as being of a political character, and politically-motivated.
“Daniel is being held in a 2m x 4m cell, without any prior (or current) convictions in conditions normally reserved for the most violent criminals,” Mrs Duggan said. “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.”
“I was shocked when I saw Dan recently. He’s trying to fight this injustice but he’s a shadow of himself. They are trying to break him and they should be ashamed. Given the size of our family and the legal costs involved, we are struggling to make ends meet, but we will fight this injustice.”
Because Dan is being held at Silverwater in Sydney’s western suburbs, Saffrine’s rare visits involve an eight hour return drive, as she needs to quickly get back to her father’s farm in Orange to look after the six children.
Dan’s imprisonment can also be viewed in the context of the prohibition by NSW prison authorities to allow the United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (‘SPT’) from inspecting jails, including Silverwater where he was incarcerated without conviction as an Extreme High Risk Restricted (‘EHRR’) and Protection Non-Association (‘PRNA’) prisoner.
Mrs Duggan said it was also ironic that over the past few weeks, officials in Canberra had been saying they would not tolerate attempts by foreign governments to influence Australia and yet were open to going along with Dan’s unfair and inhumane treatment at the behest of the United States.
“We desperately seek ongoing support and respectfully ask people demand that our government protects and defends the rule of law, due process, and Australian sovereignty,” Saffrine said. “Please speak out against this inhumane detention, and politically motivated and unjust prosecution.
“Please also sign the petition at https://www.change.org/p/release-my-husband-australian-daniel-duggan-and-refusehis-extradition-to-the-us and consider a donation to assist our family to fight these unfounded allegations and free Dan from jail.
Urgent plea for UN to help father of six veteran ex Marine, Daniel Duggan, jailed in inhumane conditions for 115 days
12 February 2023
The family of detained Australian citizen Dan Duggan will petition the United Nations Human Rights Committee to urgently step in to stop his inhumane treatment. The father of six children has been held in a tiny cell in Sydney under extreme conditions without any conviction for 115 days, based on unproven charges from the United States.
Dan’s wife, Saffrine Duggan, said it was unacceptable that in an apparently free society like Australia where citizens are innocent until proven guilty, that her husband is being held in a 2m x 4m cell at Silverwater.
He is suffering the harshest possible prison classification in Australia as an “extreme high risk restricted inmate” despite having no prior (or current) convictions.
Dan’s unfair treatment has already resulted in a formal complaint to the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security and will now become the subject of a complaint to the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
“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,” Saffrine said, from her father’s property in Orange, New South Wales.
“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.”
The Department of Justice filed this indictment in 2017 (based on strongly disputed allegations from between 2010 to 2012) during the Trump administration.
Dan was arrested in the parking lot by Nesthe Australian plain-clothes Federal Police, on the 21st of October 2022 after dropping the kids of at school while at his local supermarket in Orange, New South Wales.
Yet Dan’s legal team did not formally receive any details of the indictment until 22 December 2022, the last working business day of the year and three days before Christmas.
Dan did not receive any documentation about his charges until 28 December 2022, 69 days after his arrest. This is despite the legal requirement to provide the accused with details of the charged against them within 60 days under the extradition treaty between the US and Australia.
“All Australian citizens and permanent residents should be very worried about the dangerous and long-lasting legal precedent that such an extradition would create if it were successful. This also undermines justified extradition requests of serious crimes which are not of political character,” Saffrine said.
“The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, and Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus, have the power to stop this inhumane treatment, the extradition and persecution of an Australian citizen, in support Australian sovereignty and our dignity as a nation.
“Dan strenuously rejects all charges against him as being of a political character, and politically motivated. His indictment contains half-truths, falsehoods and gross embellishments.”
Saffrine said the treaty under which Dan’s extradition requests have been lodged by the FBI and agreed by Australian Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus is not being used properly.
The treaty specifically states that alleged crimes under its provisions of the 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.
Dan was born in Boston, USA, the youngest of a large family of 13 children. He permanently immigrated to Australia in 2002, after serving 12 years honourably in the US Marines. In January 2012, Dan proudly gained Australian citizenship.
In order to make a 100 percent commitment to Australia, he relinquished his US citizenship – not out of spite to the US but out of his love and respect for Australia.
Dan is happily married to Australian-born Saffrine and is the proud father of his six Australian children, aged between 5 and 18.
Despite the overwhelming support the family has received from around Australia and the world, Saffrine said they are struggling to make ends meet in the expensive legal battle to fight the allegations
“We desperately seek ongoing support and respectfully ask people demand that our government protects and defends the rule of law, due process, and Australian sovereignty,” Saffrine said.
“Please speak out against this inhumane detention, and politically motivated and unjust prosecution.”
“Please also sign the petition at https://www.change.org/p/release-my-husband-australian-daniel-duggan-and-refusehis-extradition-to-the-us and consider a donation to assist our family to fight these unfounded allegations and free Dan from jail.” continues Saffrine.