The International Association of Democratic Lawyers condemns the unjust arrest and detention of progressive philanthropist Fergie Chambers and condemns all attempts to extradite Chambers to the United States.
We call on the government of Spain to refuse to be complicit in the growing, fascist repression of the U.S. government and deny any extradition request by the U.S..
On July 10, six Spanish police vehicles surrounded Fergie Chambers’ car while he drove through Ibiza with his family. He was then arrested and detained on the orders of the US Department of Justice and denied bail and contact with the outside world. The charges reported against him, under a sealed indictment, are clearly political and dubious with little production of evidence, not unlike so many other attempts of the U.S. government to criminalize solidarity and dissent.
Spanish law prohibits extradition for political reasons. Further, Spanish law clearly recognizes that even when a judicial hearing declares extradition permissible, the final decision on its execution rests with the Government, taking into account not only domestic law, but also the interests of the State and Spain’s international obligations, which include both the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the Genocide Convention.
The sealed indictment makes clear that the U.S. and the Trump administration are not pursuing a legal process based on evidence, credible testimony, or a theory of a case, but instead are seeking to punish an individual who has provided funds to Palestinians in Gaza and to exacerbate the humanitarian crisis facing genocide victims.
Fergie Chambers’ detention marks the first time an individual has faced extradition to the United States from Spain for supporting the Palestinian cause. If Spain complies with the extradition of Fergie Chambers they not only will be complicit with the growing repression of the Trump administration, but will be helping establish an immensely dangerous precedent for the movement and for any provision of aid and support for Palestinians. We cannot allow this extradition to take place.
Fergie Chambers is a target of the United States for his extraordinary humanitarian work. He has donated more than $1 million to humanitarian projects supporting those impacted by the Gaza genocide. He has also been vocal in his opposition to the genocide of the Palestinian people and has supported Palestine solidarity and other activist groups in the U.S. and elsewhere. If extradited to the U.S., he could be facing decades in prison.
We are in a period of intensifying repression in the U.S. and globally. In the United States, we have seen unprecedented and illegal government actions to silence and criminalize dissent of not only the Palestinian solidarity movement, but any movement opposed to government policies. The United States is fabricating a narrative of terrorist financing to silence Chambers and his vital philanthropy, to stop aid and solidarity through fear, and also to justify its repression at home. We urge the Spanish judiciary to reject the extradition request and, should it fail to do so, we urge the Council of Ministers and President Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón to intervene to prevent this extradition.
All those who oppose the global war on dissent, the criminalization of Palestinian solidarity, of solidarity with migrants, police victims and others, who the erosion of democratic rights need to stand against this. Solidarity is not a crime!