Spanish PM Urged to Halt Extradition of Pro-Palestine Philanthropist to US

Numerous Spanish political parties have called on prime minister Pedro Sánchez to block an attempt by the US to extradite a wealthy pro-Palestine philanthropist. 

James “Fergie” Chambers has been locked up since 10 July, when several cars of police officers swooped on him when he was driving with his wife on the island of Ibiza.

The Spanish court has 40 days to decide whether to grant the extradition request, which is based on a US claim that Chambers funded Hamas. Thirteen Spanish political organisations have sent a letter to ministers opposing the extradition and demanding the US provide proof of any criminality.

The letter notes that Spanish law allows the government to prevent extradition, “especially if there are well-founded reasons to believe that the request aims to persecute or punish an individual for their political opinions.”

Chambers, a US citizen, hails from one of America’s richest families, the owners of the Atlanta-cased Cox Communications. In 2023 he sold around $250m of stock back to his family and since then has funded around 100 projects in 20 countries worldwide, his wife Stella Schnabel told the Guardian.

He has funded free bakeries, healthcare and mental health support for orphaned children in Gaza. In 2023 he paid the legal fees of a group in the US that had taken direct action against Elbit Systems, an Israeli arms maker. 

The extradition request has raised fears that president Donald Trump is extending his crackdown on leftwing activists beyond the borders of the US.

Last week, US secretary of state Marco Rubio convened a conference of 66 countries to discuss supposed leftwing terrorism, with Rubio calling leftists “an encroaching darkness” and “the enemies of civilisation”.

The US accuses Chambers of laundering $7.5m in Tunisia and using it to support Hamas. Schnabel said that money was used to purchase the popular Tunisian football club, Club Africain and pay off its debts. She said the indictment does not clearly state how he is supposed to have sent money to Hamas.

The case will prove a test of Sánchez’s government, which has taken a notably pro-Palestine and anti-Trump stance.

Irene Montero, an MEP with the leftwing Podemos party, wrote on X: “Spain can’t collaborate with Trump in the persecution of solidarity with Palestine: the government should protect [Chambers] and not surrender him to Netanyahu’s friends.”