Solidarity is Not a Crime!

On Tuesday 22 September 2026, Spain’s Council of Ministers met to decide on extraditing activist, sometime-journalist and philanthropist James “Fergie” Chambers to the United States on charges of “international money laundering.”

Chambers’ legal team submitted a brief ahead of last week’s meeting calling on the government to reject the extradition application as politically-motivated and based on Chambers’ political opinions and philanthropy.

The Council of Ministers has decided to allow the case to proceed from its administrative stage to its judicial stage, based on examination of documents submitted by the Trump regime on 26 August 2026.

If the ministers rejected the extradition application, Chambers would have been released following Tuesday’s decision.

Through this, the Spanish government has shown that its solidarity with Palestine is only feigned, and just how much of its national sovereignty has been handed over to Empire.  

As a result of them agreeing to proceed, Spain’s National Court will rule on the extradition. If the court rejects it, the case ends there. If it approves it, the case returns to the Council of Ministers for a final decision.

This judicial process can take many months or even longer if the case is contested or appealed, based on the ever-increasing use of “lawfare” against pro-Palestine activists, where the (legal) process is the punishment.

Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights guarantees the right to a fair trial. While it does not ordinarily apply to extradition proceedings, Spain has an obligation not to extradite when there are grounds for believing there is a a risk of a flagrant denial of justice.

Solidarity is a Crime?

Chambers was detained in Morna Valley, Spain, on 10 July 2026. He was arrested by six officers in five unmarked cars. Police handcuffed Chambers after informing him he was detained on the order of the Spanish National Court pursuant to an Interpol Red Notice. At the time of his arrest, Chambers was travelling with his partner, actress Stella Schnabel — who was prevented from filming the arrest — while visiting a prospective school for their 5-year-old son.

The following day at a hearing in Madrid, Judge Antonio Piña denied Chambers’ bail, ordering provisional imprisonment — due to claims his wealth makes him a flight risk, his lack of established roots in Spain and the gravity of the sentence he may face — while awaiting further material to support surrendering Chambers to the U.S.

Chambers has been held in high-security Aranjuez Prison in Madrid ever since.

If extradited, he faces up to thirty years in a U.S. prison.

Following Chambers’ detention, the FBI raided the house he and his family were renting in Spain. His partner Schnabel was also a target of the FBI, who confiscated her phone when she landed at JFK airport last week.

Solidarity is Not a Crime!

In the days after his detention, Chambers received support from more than 100 prominent cultural figures, 200 Spanish organisations and thirteen political parties. The latter, in a letter to the government, demanded the U.S. “provide complete documentation, not merely circumstantial or generic evidence that proves the existence of specific criminal conduct distinct from political activism.”

Pablo Iglesias — co-founder of Podemos, which is amongst the signatories — said Chambers is being “politically persecuted by Trump” and demanded Spain’s “pro-Palestine” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez not only free Chambers, but offer “political asylum.” Addressing Sánchez — who is celebrated in Gaza for being one of the most pro-Palestine leaders in Europe — Iglesias said, “To say you admire those who show solidarity with Palestine and then arrest them and hand them over to Trump is shameful.”

Enrique Santiago, a Sumar MP — part of Spain’s governing coalition with Sánchez’s Socialist Workers’ Party — said the extradition request “does not meet the legal requirements” and called it a “political persecution.”

Last week, Schnabel — pregnant with their second child — met with Sumar and Podemos to campaign for her partner’s freedom. She has also sent a letter to Sánchez demanding he make the only “morally acceptable decision.”

In a statement to Nós Diario, Schnabel said “Fergie did what all governments should be doing, helping a people facing genocide.”

The International Association of Democratic Lawyers — a network of lawyers and legal associations across 90 countries — defended Chambers and said the sealed indictment “makes clear that the U.S. and the Trump administration are not pursuing a legal process based on evidence.”

On Friday, Spain’s largest trade union confederation Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) — which represents over a million workers — defended Chambers and called for mass demonstrations.

Protests against Chambers’ detention have already taken place in several Spanish cities, in Ireland, France, Lebanon and Portugal.

Who is Fergie Chambers?

Chambers comes from a wealthy U.S. business and communications conglomerate Cox Enterprises family, from which he cut ties in 2023 over political differences. He is an outspoken communist and active in movements beyond Palestinian liberation, including standing with native Americans to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline and #StopCopCity protests against U.S. militarised police training centres.

Speaking on the persecution of Chambers, activist and journalist Calla Walsh said:

This is someone who has done what almost no other rich person in the U.S. and the West has been able to do — and declared himself a class traitor — he committed to redistributing his wealth for revolutionary causes, for the Palestine movement.

Walsh emphasised the importance of Chambers’ financial support in Palestine:

…with the siege on UNRWA, with the crackdown on aid getting into Gaza, these donations really make the difference of life and death for so many people…There are many people who can name direct ways that Fergie’s distribution of his wealth has greatly impacted them and that is exactly why he is being persecuted.

Chambers himself has admitted his activism and philanthropy have made him a target.

Allegations

The allegations against Chambers pertain to a transfer of $7.5 million from a U.S. bank account to Tunisia — where Chambers moved to in 2023 — and where he bought property and offered financial support to popular pro-Palestine football team Club Africain.

The U.S. claims the transfer was made with “the intention of providing material support and resources to foreign terrorist organizations.” Chambers is accused of sending money to Hamas, which the U.S. deems a “terrorist” organisation for resisting Israel’s illegal occupation — which the U.S. arms and funds.

Schnabel said, “The reality is that this money was transferred to Tunisia because we were living there, and for philanthropic activities, including supporting Club Africain.” She added, “the money sponsored the club, helped to pay its debts and overdue salaries, rebuild its training centre and develop football fields for young people.”

“I believe I’m going to die high off the people.”

Chambers’ foundation, The Babochki [Butterfly] Collective — named after a jiu-jitsu move that uses an opponent’s weight against them — is “focused on revolutionary funding, propaganda and political education, direct action/legal support” and has donated to organisations providing clean water, sanitary aid, food, medical and mental health services to children in Gaza — and Lebanon — including more than 64,000 orphans.

Chambers has also contributed to independent media, healthcare, climate prisoners support and student organisations. He has supported humanitarian and civil projects for two decades — over 100 projects in 20 countries — including offering at least $5 million to Gaza since 2023.

This is the real reason behind his persecution.

“I will always support these people and their rights.”

From prison, Chambers said:

I am a human rights defender, and that is why I will always offer my moral support to people who are fighting for their lives, for the lives of their children and for freedom. Whether it’s the ANC in South Africa, the FLN in Algeria…or any other anti-colonial struggle.

Schnabel said the detention of her partner is politically motivated “because he is using his wealth to support Palestine.” His only crime, she notes, is “dedicating his life to building a better society, rather than exploiting people.”

An Unsubtle Attack on the Palestine Movement

The sealed indictment from the U.S. Department of Justice was filed in New Hampshire — where Chambers was involved in direct action against Elbit Systems and helped fund Palestine Action U.S. activists’ court fees — and includes additional charges of “riot and conspiracy to riot.”

The charges constitute another attack by the Trump regime on left wing movements. Indeed, Chambers was detained immediately after U.S. Secretary of State Marc Rubio announced targeting what he called “transnational far-left terrorism.”

This mirrors persecution of pro-Palestinian journalists, activists, academics, doctors, lawyers and others in Britain; often targeted by people and organisations who identify as journalists or safety organisations, but are in fact Zionist fascists whose real role is targeting activists for state persecution.

The attacks against Chambers stem from a gaggle of pro-Israel organisations and online Zionist fascists who have been hounding him and people close to him, tagging U.S. authorities — and Irish politicians while Chambers was living in Ireland — and posting online personal information about him, including his home address. Some Israeli organisations amongst them include “security analysts” who have admitted Chambers’ philanthropy offers “extreme transparency.”

Another Precedent

The Trump regime, as this report notes, is “setting a precedent in international law where the fascist administration can extradite its political opponents with no scrutiny or resistance.” Chambers’ imprisonment “must be taken extremely seriously” because “if they have taken him, they will be coming for us too.”

Chambers’ legal team is led by lawyer and former judge Baltasar Garzón — who issued the Spanish arrest warrant that led to Augusto Pinochet’s arrest in London — alongside U.S. lawyer Barry Pollack. Both previously represented WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Garzón has called the indictment “weak and vague” and said the U.S. government has failed to identify “specific acts of violence or damages personally attributable to Chambers.”

Garzón said this case could “set an alarming precedent across Europe if Spain were to allow the Trump Administration to criminalise the provision of vital humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people,” which “is not terrorism according to Spanish and European legal criteria.”

He added, “they’re not going to be able to find one cent” belonging to Chambers “directed at terrorist or violent acts.”

The Spanish government must act against the pro-genocide U.S. Empire’s attempts to criminalise solidarity and dissent under phoney accusations of supporting terrorism.

As Iqbal Jassat wrote in The Palestine Chronicle:

By designating Hamas a terrorist organization, Washington has given itself a blank check to criminalize global solidarity with Palestine. When European nations like Spain capitulate to these extradition requests, they are not merely cooperating with an ally; they are outsourcing their own judicial sovereignty to a bipartisan Washington consensus that views any substantial aid to Gaza as an existential threat.

It is imperative Chambers — who has offered significant aid to Holocaust survivors in Gaza — is offered the same level of solidarity by justice-minded people everywhere.

Increase the protests and say NO PASARÁN, pasaremos!

You can sign the petition calling on courts in Spain to reject the extradition and free Chambers here.

I will post updates of the case in this thread.