The defence argued that the alleged offence could be mischaracterised as a crime against humanity by Chilean courts, which would bring different legal consequences including potential death penalty in Chile.

Rivas is alleged to have operated for Pinochet’s National Intelligence Directorate, a secret police unit that targeted political dissent.

Australian law prohibits extradition where the offence carries the death penalty, and the court rejected treating the case as a crime against humanity.

Justice Lee held that the offence remains aggravated kidnapping as per the extradition request and dismissed the application due to lack of jurisdictional error in the Minister's decision.

Rivas moved to Australia in 1978, was arrested in Chile in 2007, escaped on bail to Australia in 2011, and worked as a nanny and cleaner in Bondi before being detained for extradition in 2019.

The individual, Adriana Elcira Rivas, a 72-year-old Bondi nanny, faces extradition to Chile on seven counts of aggravated kidnapping linked to torture and disappearances during 1976-1977 under Pinochet’s regime.