Ex-fighter pilot speaks from jail on FBI case: 'I'm heartbroken'

"Hello," former United States fighter pilot Daniel Duggan says.

"I have to whisper because my voice carries ... I'm inside a two-by-four-metre concrete box."

The Orange father of six was arrested by Australian Federal Police at Anson Street Woolworths on his way home from a school fete in October, 2022.

He's since spent 14 months in a small maximum-security cell, fighting extradition to the US on allegations of "conspiracy" he says are unfounded and politically motivated.

"I'm looking out a small window. It has a metal grate in front of it," he says.

"Outside that is bars and then outside there's more bars and then another grate and then razor wire. I have a little sliver of blue sky that I'm looking at, but everywhere is bars and razor wire.

"Imagine living in your bathroom. That's what it's like.

"I've got a toilet, a sink and a little shower. It's all concrete, which is horrendous. I take a shower and the whole place is damp and wet.

"My wall is plastered with pictures of my family that I miss terribly, and they miss me."

In an interview with the Central Western Daily, Mr Duggan doubles down on claims of innocence in the high profile case and pleads to join his family for Christmas.

"I miss my kids. I'm heartbroken. I'm absolutely heartbroken," he says.

"Here I am, a father of six and innocent man, inside a maximum security prison a few weeks before Christmas ... this is going to be my second Christmas in prison with no charges.

"I speak to the kids like this on a maximum 10-minute phone call and it clicks off. Imagine talking to one of your kids and they're distraught and they're crying and wondering when you're coming home ... and then the phone clicks off and you've got to wait five or 10 minutes to call them back if the phone even works ...

"That's enough to drive anyone crazy."

The 55-year-old was born in Boston as the youngest of 13 siblings.

He served as a fighter pilot in the US marines between 1989 and 2002, flying Harrier Jump Jets. Missions included Operation Southern Watch from Kuwait in the Persian Gulf.

Mr Duggan emigrated in 2002 and met his now-wife in 2011, becoming an Australian citizen the following year and relinquishing his US passport.

A now-deleted LinkedIn profile showed he later lived in China and served as managing director of aviation consultancy business AVIBIZ Limited until 2020, before returning to Orange in 2022.

The international case remains shrouded in mystery.

In a 2017 indictment, the US Department of Justice alleges Mr Duggan laundered money and engaged in a conspiracy with eight others to train Chinese fighter pilots to land on aircraft carriers at the Test Flying Academy of South Africa between 2010 and 2012.

In February, Reuters reported he shared a Beijing address with Chinese businessman Su Bin, who has been convicted of working to steal US military aircraft designs.

Mr Duggan has not been charged with a crime in Australia and denies any wrongdoing.

"People talk about the presumption of innocence, but really? For some reason it doesn't apply to me," he says.

"People need to connect the dots. Why doesn't that apply to me? Because this is political, that's why.

"The US has basically weaponised the Australian legal system against an Australian citizen and his family. A family of six children who are suffering through this whole thing.

"It's for political purposes; to send a geopolitical message. Do we live in the 51st state of the USA or is this a sovereign country?"

Mr Duggan argues he exclusively trained civilian pilots, and says money laundering allegations relate to his payment for legitimate services that were declared to the Australian Tax Office.

Internationally renowned human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson KC said it's impossible to know if the Orange father has committed a crime, but believes his incarceration without local charge raises significant concern.

"It's a disgrace that a man like this with a presumption of innocence should be held separately away from his wife and children. It's contrary to all beliefs in family life and in freedom," he told the CWD.

"In human rights terms, the law as declared by Australian judges is utterly wrong."

Mr Robertson said that, with no evidence showing Mr Duggan is a danger to the community, his imprisonment is "unnecessarily cruel".

"No other country is such a lickspittle to the United States that it does this. In every other county if the US wants to put someone on trial they have to get some proof.

"There has to be some reason for dangerousness before you stick someone in prison," he said.

Extradition of Mr Duggan has been approved and will likely go ahead unless his legal team can prove it is unlawful. If convicted he faces up to 65 years in a US prison.

The Australian Attorney-General's department told the CWD it would be inappropriate to comment on claims of political persecution as the case is before a magistrate, but said any bail application would be determined by the court.

"The Extradition Act allows for a person to apply for bail. It is a matter for Mr Duggan as to whether he wishes to do so."

A representative for the Duggan family say his legal team have so far advised against applying, on the grounds Australia's extradition treaty requires undefined "exceptional circumstances" and would be rejected.

The US Attorney-General and FBI have repeatedly declined requests for comment.

From the family farm at Forrest Reefs, wife Saffrine Duggan told the CWD her husband had deteriorated significantly since going into custody.

"He tries to give the children courage but, when I talk to him, and it's just me and him - two adults, two people that love each other - he's not coping at all and he is not going to be able to handle much more in solitary confinement. That's the truth of it," she said.

"He is broken and I can noticeably see a change in his ability to process information, to have conversations."

US social psychology professor Craig Haney was a researcher on the Stanford prison experiment in the 1970s and has spent five decades studying effects of incarceration.

He says reports from the family are not surprising.

"There is an extensive amount of research indicating severe forms of isolation of the sort that Mr Duggan [says he has been] exposed to are not only unpleasant and painful, but also extremely dangerous," Professor Haney told the CWD.

"Extreme and prolonged deprivation of meaningful social contact puts people at significant risk of very serious harm, including depression, anxiety, uncontrollable anger, cognitive dysfunction, physical illness, self-harm and suicidality."

The impact can be long-lived, he said.

"For some, the adverse effects are permanent and, in extreme cases, even fatal."

Dispute remains over the reason for his isolation, with reports Mr Duggan voluntarily entered protective custody contested by the family.

A spokesperson for NSW Corrective Services said solitary confinement is not used in Australia.

"Inmates in one-person cells are housed separately for their own protection or at their own request. Their status as a protection inmate does not affect their access to health and support services, lawyers or visits.

"People in protection at Lithgow Correctional Centre have access to a yard sized three metres by 1.5 metres outside their cells for seven hours each day. They also have regular access to an oval for exercise."

From his cell, Mr Duggan's voice speeds up as a beep warns our final phone call is about to expire.

"I've sort of lost faith in the entire system really," he rushes out.

"My appeal is to the Australian people, because the power is with the people, and my appeal is to please help a fellow Australian family that is under maximum duress.

"We're just a normal Australian family. If they can do this to me they can do it to you."

The Australian taxpayer is footing the bill, he said.

"Merry Christmas to your family from mi ... "

The line goes dead.