Spain’s Council of Ministers on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, allowed a US extradition request against activist and donor James Cox Chambers Jr., known as Fergie Chambers, 41, to move to the judicial phase, a decision his defence calls a “dangerous precedent” for the Palestinian cause, according to Middle East Eye.
Chambers was arrested in Ibiza on 10 July 2026 at Washington’s request and remains in pre-trial detention in Madrid. The sealed indictment charges him with international money laundering, riot and conspiracy to riot over transfers of about $7.5 million to a company in Tunisia and over 2023 protests at the US facilities of an Israeli arms manufacturer in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, according to The National and The Straits Times, which published a Reuters dispatch. It is the first time the US has sought the extradition of a citizen over alleged support for Hamas, The National says.
Government spokesperson Elma Saiz said the decision was “purely procedural” and that the final word rests with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s cabinet, after review by the Audiencia Nacional, the Spanish court that handles extradition requests. Chambers’s lead counsel, Baltasar Garzón, said: “Spain cannot defend international law, the rights of the Palestinian people and the protection of those who provide humanitarian aid while at the same time allowing a request to proceed with an extradition that shows clear signs of political persecution by the US government.” The Sumar party, a junior partner in the governing coalition, had urged the government to block the request; Podemos lawmaker Ione Belarra called Chambers “the first political prisoner in Spanish history being imprisoned because of his support for Palestine”. His defence says the transfers funded humanitarian projects in Gaza, including a bakery and a medical clinic.