Spanish prosecutor favours extraditing pro-Palestinian US Cox Enterprises heir

A Spanish prosecutor on Friday expressed support for a US request ​to extradite pro-Palestinian donor and multimillionaire US media heir ​James Cox Chambers Jr, in a case Chambers' ‌defence ​says is politically motivated. Spain's High Court will rule on the case in coming weeks. Government spokesperson Elma Saiz has said the cabinet would then make the final determination.

The case is ‌politically sensitive for Spain's Socialist-led government, known for its strong pro-Palestinian stance, which has drawn rebuke from the Trump administration and contributed to wider tensions with Washington. Chambers, known as Fergie, was arrested at the request of US authorities on July 10 while on holiday ‌in Ibiza and held since then. The extradition request lists riot, conspiracy to commit riot and international money laundering, the ‌court heard.

He has donated over $1 million to humanitarian causes in Gaza and paid legal fees for some members of the activist group Palestine Action, according to his legal team. The reference to riot relates to 2023 protests by pro-Palestinian activists against Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems in New Hampshire.

"The extradition request is ⁠not ​based on mere ideology or political ⁠statements, but on an organised, financed and executed action that caused significant material damage and the evaluation of which corresponds to the competent US court," prosecutor Juan ⁠Hernandez Villalba told the court. Chambers has said he was present at the protests but caused no damage. He said he transferred his ​own money to Tunisia, where he was living, to fund his company's sponsorship of Tunisian soccer club, Club Africain, as ⁠well as a gym.

"To this day I cannot understand why I have been in prison since July ... All I'm asking for is justice, reason, ⁠and mercy," ​he told the court. He has denied wrongdoing, applied for asylum in Spain on the grounds of political persecution and refused on Friday to consent to extradition. Under Spanish law, extradition cannot proceed if a request is found to be politically ⁠motivated.

His lawyer Aitor Martinez said even the people who carried out the damage in New Hampshire were convicted of misdemeanours, an offence ⁠that carries a 60-day ⁠sentence and falls below the one-year threshold of the US-Spain extradition treaty. The US Department of Justice has declined to comment on the case against Chambers, whose father is James Cox Chambers, billionaire ‌part-owner of Cox ‌Enterprises.