The Council of Ministers of Spain has rejected the request made by the left bloc Sumar to halt the extradition process of the pro-Palestinian activist Fergie Chambers to the US. This was confirmed by the government spokesperson, Elma Saiz, during the press conference held at Moncloa, the government headquarters, on Tuesday, September 22.

“The government has done what it is supposed to do at this stage: the continuation of the extradition request has been authorized,” Saiz stated. In a later response she added that in this first phase “it is only necessary to make a formal examination” of the request. “We must now allow the National Court, as well as Mr. Chambers’ defense, to work, and when the National Court’s resolution is made public, with all the arguments on the table, a definitive decision will be made.”

Sumar submitted a document with observations to the Council of Ministers, to which Público has had access. In it, Sumar urged the Ministry of Justice to submit to the Council of Ministers a proposal not to continue judicially with the extradition procedure. Sumar based its arguments mainly on Article 5.1 of the Passive Extradition Law, “for the objective indication of persecution or aggravation for political opinions.” In relation to the protest charges attributed to Chambers, Sumar considered that in accordance with the Extradition Treaty, it is up to the Spanish government to resolve the question about Chambers’s political exception.

Fergie Chambers is a US activist who professes a communist ideology and is very active in favor of the Palestinian cause. He was arrested by Spanish authorities in Ibiza on July 10, in compliance with an extradition request from Washington. Since then, he has been in provisional detention while his extradition is being processed.

Regarding the situation, Spanish journalist Irene Zugasti pointed out:), “Until today, Spain could have overturned the extradition. It was not mandatory to send it to the courts.”

“An extradition has three steps: the government decides first, then the judges, and finally the government again,” she explained. “In the first step, the government can say ‘no’ if political persecution is observed, which is Fergie’s case. It is a political objective of the US and Israel.”

She noted that in several occasions in the past, Spain halted extraditions in the initial phase. If it had halted Chambers’s process, it would not have been an exception.

However, “by passing the ‘hot potato’ to the National Court, every month that goes by is another month in prison for someone who has not been convicted of anything,” Zugasti emphasized.

Protests Demand that Spain Refuse to Extradite Activist Fergie Chambers to US

“Sending the case to the National Court opens a long process: hearing, resolution, possible appeals, and then back to the government,” she continued. “All this time, Chambers would remain in provisional detention, deprived of seeing his family as the courts deny him provisional release.”

She added that the most serious issue is that “the final word” in the case “may not be from this government, but from a future right-wing and far-right government. Postponing the decision is leaving it to someone else: TO THE ZIONIST RIGHT.”

As a solution to the situation, Zugasti suggested that Spain should grant political asylum to Chambers. “If it does, the extradition ends. No one can be sent to the country that is persecuting them,” she noted.

“Actions, not words. Defending the Palestinian cause is defending those who put their bodies on the line for it,” she concluded.

(Diario Público) with Orinoco Tribune content

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

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