Daniel Meli wins battle to avoid extradition to the US
Court upholds suspected hacker's bid to contest extradition
Updated 10.40am
Suspected hacker Daniel Joe Meli has won a court battle to avoid extradition to the US, where he is wanted on charges related to the alleged sale of illegal malware on the dark web.
The 28-year-old from Żabbar is wanted by US authorities for his alleged dealings on the dark web between December 2012 and June 2022. The malware, a remote access trojan or RAT, is used to gain access to computers and servers and control their operation.
He was first arrested in February 2024 in a coordinated operation by the Malta police and the Office of the Attorney General, supported by the FBI and the US Justice Department.
He has been fighting his extradition to the US after having initially consented to it.
Meli filed an appeal and later a constitutional case. The law was eventually amended to allow for a change of mind, and the case started from scratch.
Lawyer Arthur Azzopardi (left) representing Meli before a parliamentary committee.What the court found
On Monday, the court upheld Meli's pleas and dismissed the extradition request. That decision is subject to appeal.
In its decision, the court said the prosecution had failed to meet the burden of proof required under Maltese law to authorise the extradition.
Magistrate Leonard Caruana noted that the prosecution had been “fairly lax” in presenting evidence to substantiate its request and had reopened submissions at a late stage in proceedings.
Daniel Meli (right) with lawyer Franco Debono outside the law courts.While prosecutors presented US documents including an indictment and arrest warrant for Meli, these documents were only presented as photocopies and lacked proper authentication, as required by the Extradition Act. Prosecutors also failed to present any witnesses to affirm under oath that the documents were authentic or to testify about their chain of custody, the court said.
Meli was represented by lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Franco Debono.
His case has attracted widespread attention and public support, with over 4,000 people signing a petition opposing his extradition.
Also last month, a parliamentary petitions committee unanimously agreed to continue supporting a petition urging the government not to extradite him.
He was granted bail by the local courts last month.