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Fergie Chambers faces Spanish court fight over US extradition request
Fergie Chambers faces Spanish court fight over US extradition request
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Amandla Thomas-Johnson
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Tue, 09/22/2026 - 17:13
Lawyers for American Pro-Palestinian activist say extradition would 'set a dangerous precedent regarding the defence of the Palestinian cause'
Fergie Chambers has remained imprisoned since his arrest in Ibiza in July (Supplied)
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The Spanish government has come under fire for allowing the extradition case of prominent American activist and Gaza humanitarian donor Fergie Chambers to proceed to the country’s courts, after declining to block the US request at the preliminary stage.
Government spokesperson Elma Saiz described Tuesday’s decision as “purely procedural” and said the government had conducted only a formal examination of the request.
Chambers’ lawyers will now contest the extradition before Spain’s Audiencia Nacional, after which the government will take a final decision.
Baltasar Garzon, lead counsel for Chambers, said the decision “sets a dangerous precedent regarding the defence of the Palestinian cause”.
Garzon, the former Spanish judge who pursued Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet under the principle of universal jurisdiction, added: “Spain cannot defend international law, the rights of the Palestinian people and the protection of those who provide humanitarian aid while at the same time allowing a request to proceed with an extradition that shows clear signs of political persecution by the US Government.”
Spanish politicians have also criticised the decision. Ione Belarra, a member of Spain’s Congress of Deputies and secretary general of Podemos, described it as “devastating”.
“This decision is devastating not just for Fergie Chambers and his family, but for the pro-Palestine movement in Spain and across Europe,” she said.
“Fergie Chambers is the first political prisoner in Spanish history being imprisoned because of his support for Palestine. Sanchez’s government has chosen to keep him imprisoned by giving the green light for Trump’s political persecution to proceed to the courts.”
Chambers, an heir to the Cox family fortune, was arrested on the Spanish island of Ibiza in July pursuant to a US extradition request.
According to the indictment, US prosecutors have charged Chambers with international money laundering, riot and conspiracy to riot. They allege that, after leaving the United States in 2023, he transferred approximately $7.5m out of the country with the intent of providing material support to Hamas.
The US Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Middle East Eye understands that, in a submission made ahead of Tuesday’s decision, Chambers’s legal team argued that the Spanish government was obliged to prevent the extradition request from proceeding because of what it described as the clear political motivations behind the case. Allowing it to proceed, the lawyers argued, would facilitate Chambers’s political persecution.
His legal team also argued that the US extradition request should not proceed because US prosecutors had failed to identify specific acts of violence or property damage personally attributable to Chambers, and that there is no equivalent offence under Spanish law to “conspiracy to riot”.
The lawyers further contested the US Department of Justice’s allegation of international money laundering, arguing that Chambers’s personal wealth had been obtained legally as a member of one of the wealthiest families in the United States and was fully accounted for.
A 'dangerous precedent for others'
Chambers’s partner, Stella Schnabel, said Tuesday’s decision “sends a deeply disturbing message” that “even in Spain, solidarity with the Palestinian people could be treated as a crime” and “risks extending the Trump administration’s repression of pro-Palestine and progressive movements into Europe, setting a dangerous precedent for others”.
Schnabel said she was “heartbroken” that Chambers would remain imprisoned and would only be able to see his children during prison visits through a pane of glass, unable to hold their young son or the couple’s expected new baby.
Among Chambers’s humanitarian initiatives was a $100,000 grant to the Zaynab Project to expand long-term mental health and psychosocial support for orphaned children in Gaza, including access to licensed therapists, counselling and psychological care.
Pro-Palestine activist Fergie Chambers arrested in Spain after US extradition request
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He also donated $250,000 to the Sameer Project, which helped establish a bakery in northern Gaza, complete a desalination plant and operate a free medical clinic. Following Chambers’s arrest, the charity announced a pause in operations, saying tens of thousands of Palestinians would be affected.
Meanwhile, a letter signed by 150 prominent figures and submitted ahead of Tuesday’s decision urged the Spanish government to reject what it described as Trump’s “political persecution”.
Signatories included Palestinian writer Mohammed el-Kurd, campaigner Angela Davis, musicians Bob Vylan and Lowkey, and actors Riz Ahmed and Richard Gere.
The strongly worded letter condemned what it described as the Trump administration’s “unprecedented campaign against institutions and individuals working to oppose the genocide and uphold international law in Palestine”, and said that Chambers “has devoted his life to defending the world's most vulnerable people”.
Protests in support of Chambers were held in six cities across Spain last week, including Madrid, Barcelona, Murcia, Seville, and Galicia.
The decision comes at a time of political uncertainty in Spain and strained relations between Madrid and Washington. Spain is due to hold a general election by 2027, with Sanchez’s minority government facing pressure from the left as well as from the conservative Popular Party and far-right Vox, both of which have taken markedly more supportive positions towards Israel.
Sánchez has also repeatedly clashed with US President Donald Trump this year, most notably over the war in Iran. His government refused to allow the United States to use the Rota and Moron military bases for operations connected to the war and later barred US aircraft involved in the conflict from Spanish airspace.
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