Pro-Palestine philanthropist faces US extradition hearing in Spain

Madrid, Spain – The wife of a pro-Palestine philanthropist who faces extradition to the United States has urged the Spanish prime minister to grant asylum, to save him from being sent to his own country.

James “Fergie” Chambers is the first US citizen to face extradition to their own country. He is accused of supporting Hamas, an allegation apparently linked to a money laundering charge and donations that he made to support Palestinians in Gaza.

“I am pleading with [Spanish Prime Minister Pedro] Sanchez to use his powers to ensure Fergie’s political asylum claim is expedited for urgent consideration by the panel of ministers. This is within his gift. If he chooses not to act, he risks enabling [US President Donald] Trump to establish a precedent in Spain and across Europe which criminalises solidarity with the Palestinian people,” Stella Schnabel told Al Jazeera.

Spain’s National Court will hear evidence from the US authorities on Thursday and a final decision will be made later.

Chambers, a left-wing activist with a reported $250m net worth, is also facing charges of riot and conspiracy to riot relating to a protest at an Israeli arms company in 2023 in the US, for which he could face up to 30 years of imprisonment.

The self-proclaimed anti-imperialist denies any wrongdoing.

Chambers was arrested in July in Ibiza as he and his partner, Schnabel, an actress, searched for a school for their son, after Interpol issued a Red Notice for his detention. Since his arrest, he has claimed asylum, alleging he is the victim of political persecution.

Chambers cannot be extradited until the asylum claim is resolved, and if it is successful, he cannot be extradited.

The US government’s case centres on Chambers’s alleged laundering of $7.5m, which he is said to have wired several years ago from a US bank account to Tunisia, where he lived at the time, allegedly using the cash to support Hamas.

Schnabel said in an earlier interview with Al Jazeera that the money was to support Club Africain, a Tunisian football club, to pay off its debts and overdue salaries, to reconstruct a training centre and build pitches for youth sides.

Lawyers for Chambers said mistranslations between the US criminal charge in English and the version presented to Spanish authorities in Spanish make the allegations seem more serious.

Under Spanish law, all extradition requests must be translated into Spanish.

The alleged mistranslations, which relate to protests in 2003 in the United States that targeted the US-based facilities of Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, changed “direct action” to “direct violence”.

Lawyers also said there is no reference to violence in the original US criminal complaint, but the translated version submitted to Spanish authorities mentions “three fires” even though no fires are mentioned in the original text.

US authorities also changed the description of protesters’ “activation” of smoke canisters to “detonation”, which, defence lawyers say, is usually used to describe an explosive device, not the release of smoke canisters.

The most serious mistranslation, say defence lawyers, involved a conversation between third parties that in the original criminal complaint described Chambers as being part of a “global terrorism game”.

However, in the translated version submitted to Spanish authorities, this phrase is changed to “global terrorism activities”. Chambers has not been charged with any “terrorism” offences.

“It’s important to highlight that the US administration has not charged Fergie with material support for or financing terrorism or any terror-related offences, nor presented a shred of evidence that even a single cent has been used for violent or terrorist acts,” Aitor Martinez, one of the defence lawyers, told Al Jazeera.

“The reason not to charge him with those offences is clear: there is no evidence.”

If the court backs the US extradition request, defence lawyers for Chambers will appeal, dragging the case on longer.

However, the Spanish government’s Council of Ministers may have the last word on the case and could refuse to send him to the US if they believe the case is politically motivated.

The situation is complicated by the fact that Spain is holding an early election on November 29, which, according to the polls, the conservative People’s Party is likely to win, potentially requiring the support of the far-right Vox party.

Both right-wing parties may be more inclined to support extraditing Chambers than Spain’s Socialist prime minister Sanchez, an outspoken critic of Trump’s support for Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.

Chambers, 46, is heir to the Cox family, owners of the Atlanta-based Cox Communications. As part of a deal in which his family cut ties with him at the time, he sold stock back to his family worth about $250m in 2003.

Since then, he has funded about 100 projects in 20 countries, Schnabel said.

The US Department of Justice declined to comment when contacted by Al Jazeera.

Two of the three charges in the US complaint – riot and conspiracy to riot – are related to allegations that he funded the legal fees of activists arrested in the 2003 protests against Elbit.

Chambers has commented publicly on Israel and Gaza.

In the wake of the 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, he posted on X about Israel’s response: “Stop calling it ‘collective punishment’/There’s nothing to be punished for/No faction of the Palestinian resistance, Hamas or other, has done *anything* wrong/It’s simply genocide/Like it has been.”

On the day of the court hearing, demonstrations will be held in support of  Chambers outside Spanish embassies in London, Brussels. Amsterdam and Tunisia, where Chambers lived for some time.