Anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson arrested in Greenland. He faces possible extradition to Japan
BERLIN (AP) — Greenland police mentioned they apprehended veteran environmental activist and anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson on a world arrest warrant issued by Japan.
Watson, a 73-year-old Canadian-American citizen, is a former head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society whose direct motion ways, together with high-seas confrontations with whaling vessels, have drawn assist from A-list celebrities and featured in the truth tv collection “Whale Wars.”
He was arrested Sunday when his ship docked in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, a police assertion mentioned. He later appeared earlier than a district court docket to look right into a request to detain him pending a choice on his possible extradition to Japan, the assertion mentioned.
On Monday, the Captain Paul Watson Foundation mentioned in an emailed remark the veteran environmentalist could be detained in Nuuk at the very least till Aug. 15, following the court docket’s determination, to give the Danish justice ministry time to examine the case and possible extradition. He faces a most sentence of 15 years in jail in Japan, in accordance to the inspiration.
His basis additionally mentioned the Greenland court docket wouldn’t permit Watson’s launch on bail as he was thought-about a flight threat.
The basis described greater than a dozen law enforcement officials boarding the vessel and main Watson away in handcuffs when it stopped to refuel. The basis mentioned the ship, together with 25 volunteer crew members, was en route to the North Pacific on a mission to intercept a brand new Japanese whaling ship.
“The arrest is believed to be related to a former Red Notice issued for Captain Watson’s previous anti-whaling interventions in the Antarctic region,” the inspiration mentioned in an emailed assertion on Sunday.
“We implore the Danish government to release Captain Watson and not entertain this politically-motivated request,” Locky MacLean, the inspiration director, mentioned in the assertion.
Neither the Japan Coast Guard nor Japan’s Foreign Ministry, which had issued the worldwide warrant for Watson, confirmed they’re negotiating Watson’s handover. However, the coast guard, the first investigative authority in Watson’s case in Japan, mentioned Monday that officers had been on standby if a handover is ordered.
Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark. Japan doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the European nation and it’s unknown if or when Watson could be handed over.
It’s not the primary time his ways introduced him head-to-head with authorities. He was detained in Germany in 2012 on a Costa Rican extradition warrant however skipped bail after studying that he was additionally hunted for extradition by Japan, which has accused him of endangering whalers’ lives throughout operations in the Antarctic Ocean. He has since lived in international locations together with France and the United States.
Watson, who left Sea Shepherd in 2022 to arrange his personal group, was additionally a number one member of Greenpeace, however left in 1977 amid disagreements over his aggressive ways.
According to his basis, Watson’s present ship, the M/Y John Paul DeJoria, was due to sail by way of the Northwest Passage to the North Pacific to confront a newly constructed Japanese manufacturing unit whaling ship, “a murderous enemy devoid of compassion and empathy hell bent on destroying probably the most clever self-aware sentient beings in the ocean.”
___
Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report from Tokyo, Japan.
