Pressure grows in Spain against James Chambers’ U.S. extradition
In Spain, lawyers for U.S. citizen James “Fergie” Chambers, who is being held in custody in Madrid and whose extradition has been requested by the United States, have submitted a legal position in the case to the government. Spain’s Council of Ministers is expected to consider the matter on September 22 and, at the administrative stage, may allow the request to proceed or reject it, The Guardian World reports.
According to the publication, the U.S. case is based on claims by U.S. authorities that Chambers allegedly laundered $7.5 million transferred several years ago from a bank account in the United States to Tunisia, where he was living at the time. The U.S. side also claims that these funds may have been used to support the Palestinian group Hamas. The exact details of the charges against Chambers are classified.
Defense arguments
The defense says that the U.S. government has not identified specific acts of violence or harm that could be personally linked to Chambers, and is instead seeking to criminalize actions related to political protests. The lawyers also point out that the charge of conspiracy to commit rioting has no equivalent in Spanish law, which, in their view, may make extradition impossible.
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The 41-year-old Chambers’ team says that he funded humanitarian aid and other projects. His lawyer, Baltasar Garzón, said that authorizing extradition would set a dangerous precedent for Europe because, according to the defense’s position, Chambers supported people in need of humanitarian assistance.
Support in Spain
Chambers’ partner, actress and activist Stella Schnabel, met with representatives of the left-wing political forces Sumar and Podemos and wrote to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez asking him to reject the extradition. Sánchez is a member of the Council of Ministers, which is to consider the request.
Sumar, which is part of the governing coalition together with Sánchez’s Socialist Party, submitted a motion to the Spanish Congress calling for the U.S. request to be rejected. Demonstrations in support of Chambers took place in at least six cities across the country. A petition in his support was submitted to the Spanish government; its signatories included Richard Gere, Greta Thunberg and Angela Davis. The publication calls the case the first known instance in which the United States has sought the extradition of one of its citizens over alleged support for Hamas.
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