A court in Australia on Thursday ruled that a Chilean woman accused of kidnappings dated to Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship in the 1970s must be extradited to face the charges, dismissing her appeal. 

Adriana Rivas, 68, had appealed against a Sydney magistrate's decision, last October, that she could be extradited on charges of kidnapping seven people, including Communist Party leader Victor Diaz, in 1976 and 1977.

She has denied meeting the alleged victims, who were never found.

Federal Court Justice Wendy Abraham in Sydney ruled that Rivas could be extradited on the seven charges of aggravated kidnap. 

Rivas was an assistant to Manuel Contreras, who headed the DINA secret police during Pinochet's dictatorship. 

She has been in Australian custody since her arrest by New South Wales police in 2019 following a request from Chile for her extradition. Australia and Chile have had an extradition treaty since 1993.

Rivas left Chile in 1978, and according to Australian media reports she was working as a cleaner in Sydney when she was arrested. 

Her lawyers argued she was not a DINA agent and her work involved collecting laundry, making coffee and translating.

The judge ordered Rivas to surrender and pay Chilean court costs.

More than 3,000 people died or went missing in the political violence that ensued under Pinochet's military regime.

Truth commissions and police investigations have shown that the secret service and the army also tortured and drove thousands of dissidents and leftists into exile.

dvv/msh (AP, Reuters)