A former US military pilot has been placed under “extreme” restrictions inside an Australian prison, according to his lawyer

The lawyer for a former U.S. military pilot said he has been placed under “extreme” restrictions inside an Australian prison while fighting a secretive extradition battle with the Department of Justice in Washington.

Ex-Marine Daniel Edmund Duggan was apprehended in New South Wales on October 21, the same week that the United Kingdom and Australia issued unusually candid warnings about China’s efforts to recruit retired military pilots.

According to corporate records, Duggan, 54, lived and worked in China for about five years before his arrest, though the details of his alleged crimes have been sealed by the US government.

Duggan, an Australian citizen, was classified as a “extreme high-risk restricted inmate” inside a maximum-security facility in Sydney, according to defence lawyer Dennis Miralis, and was denied access to writing materials and medical treatment.

Miralis told the court, “He’s presently not even able to access pens for the purposes of writing the nature of his complaint.”