Spanish authorities accused of covertly handing Fergie Chambers’ phone to FBI
Lawyers say the move broke the US Spain extradition treaty and lawyer privilege in a pending asylum case.
Spanish authorities have been accused of secretly handing jailed activist Fergie Chambers’ phone to the FBI despite written assurances, raising due process concerns in an extradition fight.
Chambers’ lawyer Baltasar Garzón said the transfer happened without notifying his lawyers or letting them challenge the handover. The US Spain Extradition Treaty, Garzón argued, allows possessions to be transferred only after an extradition has been granted.
The phone handover, Garzón said, also sparked allegations of breaches of attorney-client privilege and protections tied to Chambers’ pending asylum application. Chambers is currently held without bail and with no outside contact while the US government seeks his extradition to Washington on charges of "international money laundering" and providing "material support to foreign terrorist organizations."
Garzón previously said Chambers was arrested by Spanish police in Ibiza on July 10 at the request of the Trump administration. The case is driven by a sealed US indictment, which Chambers’ legal team says provides no evidence linking him to any banned organisations.
Instead, US prosecutors, Garzón said, point to ordinary bank transfers from the US to Tunisia, where Chambers used his wealth to fund local businesses, sponsor a Tunisian football team, and pay the bail and legal fees of working-class left-wing activists. The report also notes Chambers divested from his family’s Cox Enterprises fortune to fund international solidarity work and donated millions to humanitarian projects in Gaza and pro-Palestine media outlets.
Chambers remains in custody in Spain as the US extradition process continues and no extradition has been confirmed in the account provided.
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Source:
Aontacht Media