Former Marine Daniel Duggan once flew Harrier jets for the United States, taking off and landing on Navy carriers during international missions as part of Marine Attack Squadron 214, based in Yuma, Arizona.

That was over 20 years ago, but his activity since leaving the service is now the subject of a US indictment that alleges he used his specialist skills to teach Chinese pilots how to land planes on aircraft carriers, claims he denies.

Since last October, Duggan, 54, has been held in a maximum-security prison in regional Australia as his lawyers fight an extradition order, approved by Australia’s attorney general, to return him to the US to face trial on charges including money laundering and conspiracy to export US defense services.

On Tuesday, Duggan’s lawyers argued for a stay of extradition while Australia’s Office of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) investigates claims of improper action by Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), including that Duggan was “lured” from China, where he was living, to Australia, where the US had legal reach to arrest him.

The case comes as the US and its allies seek to unite against China in the Indo-Pacific, where Beijing has been fortifying islands with military installations that they fear may one day be used in a regional conflict.

From Lithgow Correctional Centre, where he’s being held, Duggan told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that he was “living a nightmare.” “I strenuously reject the indictment in its entirety,” he said.

Duggan’s wife Saffrine wants Australian officials to block his extradition, and on Tuesday she and some of their six children stood outside court, holding signs calling for him to be freed.

“We’re horrified that something like this could happen, not only to us, but to anyone,” Saffrine Duggan told her supporters.

“I would never have thought this could ever happen in Australia, let alone to our family. My family is brave and strong and so are our friends, and so is my husband, but we are all terribly torn apart.”