James Chambers is a former heir to a media fortune who broke with his family a few years ago in a deal he said was worth “hundreds of millions.” He reveres Stalin and Mao, and calls the United States a “murder-for-profit scheme.”
After the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel ignited the war in Gaza, Mr. Chambers championed the Palestinian militant group. He attended some protests and paid bail and legal fees for people arrested at actions targeting American branches of Elbit Systems, an Israeli defense contractor, including members of the Berkshire Communists, his Massachusetts collective.
Now, Mr. Chambers, 41, is in jail in Spain, fighting an extradition request from the United States. He was arrested in Ibiza in July, and a council of Spanish government ministers is expected to consider the issue on Tuesday.
The extradition request comes amid high tensions between Spain and the United States. President Trump and Pedro Sánchez, the left-wing Spanish prime minister, have clashed over trade, military spending and the war in Iran. Mr. Sánchez has called Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza a genocide, and Spain recognizes the state of Palestine, positions the United States has not taken.
Mr. Chambers’s arrest this summer generated international headlines and has become a cause célèbre for some prominent political and cultural figures in Spain and other parts of the world.
The United States has not unsealed the charges against Mr. Chambers, but Baltasar Garzón, his lawyer in Spain, said the government was claiming disorderly conduct and conspiracy to riot related to the 2023 protests, as well as money laundering to ultimately fund terrorism.
Mr. Garzón, a former judge who achieved global fame for his aggressive efforts to extradite human rights abusers to Spain, dismissed the U.S. case as “strictly political,” saying through a translator in an interview that it was part of a wider U.S. campaign against “people who have a concrete stand on Palestine.”
The U.S. money laundering accusation is tied to a transfer of more than $7 million to Tunisia after Mr. Chambers left the United States, funds that paid debts and salaries for a Tunisian soccer team, his lawyer said. Mr. Chambers has also contributed more than $1 million to humanitarian organizations in Gaza that help orphans and other children, as well as provide food and water in the devastated enclave, the lawyer said.
His client’s money comes from the deal he made with his family to cut ties in 2023 with its conglomerate, Cox Enterprises, and was spent on legal causes, Mr. Garzón said.
The defense contends that the United States aims to taint Mr. Chambers’s legitimate donations based on his stated opinions, criminalizing aid to Palestinians. It has submitted a brief to the Spanish government contesting the charges and arguing that the claimed offenses do not meet extradition criteria and risk chilling free speech, among other issues, Mr. Garzón said.
“We suspect, if he were extradited, he would not be granted a fair trial,” he added.
The U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment, and representatives of Spain in Washington did not respond to queries.
Pressure is growing in Spain to limit cooperation with the United States.
Ione Belarra, a member of Spain’s Congress of Deputies and secretary general of the left-wing Podemos party, said that Mr. Chambers, known as Fergie, “is the first political prisoner in Spanish history being imprisoned because of his support for Palestine.”
About 150 prominent artists, activists and academics from around the world on Friday joined a letter calling on Spain to reject the extradition request and protect Mr. Chambers. The actors Richard Gere, Cynthia Nixon, Natasha Lyonne and Viggo Mortensen, the activists Angela Davis and Greta Thunberg, and the philosopher Judith Butler are among them.
Mr. Chambers’s wife, Stella Schnabel, an actor and daughter of the artist and director Julian Schnabel, has also been campaigning for her husband’s release. “Fergie is a devoted philanthropist committed to supporting global humanitarian efforts,” she said in a statement to The New York Times. “I am urging the Spanish government to reject Fergie’s political persecution and send a message that solidarity with Palestinians is not a crime.”
Mr. Garzón argues that, while his client has expressed opinions that are unpopular with the U.S. government and has supported activists and humanitarian causes, he has committed no crimes. Though some members of his collective faced prosecution for an action causing damage at Elbit Systems in New Hampshire in November 2023 and pleaded guilty to criminal mischief and criminal trespassing, Mr. Chambers was not arrested or charged, Mr. Garzón noted.
If the extradition request were rejected, Mr. Chambers would be freed. If it were accepted, there would be additional steps, including going to the judiciary and perhaps back to the government, which could take a year or more, Mr. Garzón said.
But Mr. Chambers has no intention of going home, his lawyer said, and has begun seeking asylum in Spain, arguing that he will face political persecution if extradited.
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