A court in Greenland on Wednesday once again decided to extend the custody of anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson till Nov. 13 while Denmark considers a Japanese extradition request.
It was unclear when Denmark will decide whether or not to send him to Japan, which does not have an extradition treaty with the Scandinavian country.
Watson, a 73-year-old Canadian-American citizen, is a former head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Its direct action tactics, including high-seas confrontations with whaling vessels, have drawn support from A-list celebrities and were featured in the reality television series “Whale Wars.”
Watson was arrested on July 21 when his ship docked in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital and a Greenland court repeatedly has approved his detention while Danish authorities look into his possible extradition to Japan, where he faces up to 15 years in prison, according to the Captain Paul Watson Foundation.
Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark and handles police and justice matters.
Japan’s coast guard sought his arrest over an encounter with a Japanese whaling research ship in 2010. He was accused of obstructing the crew’s official duties by ordering the captain of his ship to throw explosives at the whaling ship.
Prosecutor Mariam Khalil said that there still was a flight risk and an extension of the custody was needed, the Greenland newspaper Sermitsiaq said.
Last week, Sea Shepherd France said Watson had asked France’s president for political asylum. It said a letter from Watson had been delivered to President Emmanuel Macron, who previously expressed his support for Watson and emphasized the importance of the case to environmental advocacy and human rights.
Whale meat is an element of Japanese food culture, and the Japanese government says it supports the sustainable use of whales.
Watson, who left Sea Shepherd in 2022, was also a leading member of Greenpeace, but left in 1977 amid disagreements over his aggressive tactics and set up the more action-oriented organization. The group has waged aggressive campaigns to protect whales, dolphins and other marine animals.
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10 Comments
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Gene Hennigh
I want to get by with attacking people. I'm going to become an activist like Watson. Then I'll have a lot of people think I'm great. "Why, basil leaves have as much reason to live as we do!" Then I can attack a trailer truck and injure the driver and get by with it. This is a pitiful situation. He attacked people. That's good?
Meiyouwenti
What’s taking the Danish court so long to extradite the violent criminal? Maybe they’re afraid of reaction from anti-whaling activists and countries. Denmark’s indecisiveness may constitute an obstruction of international criminal justice.
Alongfortheride
He always said he was not a pirate yet the Sea Sheppard logo on the boat was a skull and crossbones. If he thinks he did nothing wrong against Japan he should be fine with coming here to defend himself.
Some dude
What’s taking the Danish court so long to extradite the violent criminal? Maybe they’re afraid of reaction from anti-whaling activists and countries. Denmark’s indecisiveness may constitute an obstruction of international criminal justice.
Legal matters, maybe, as they're, you know, a court.
Plus this isn't a shoplifting case. There's probably a lot going on behind the scenes.
GBR48
Environmentalists now have their own Julian Assange.
Fighto!
The Danes are being thorough - they believe in rule of law. They are no doubt gathering all the evidence and assessing it. Ultimately I am pretty sure they will do the right thing and extradite Watson to have his day in court.
Watson is a violent man - I just hope he is not being violent toward the Greenland authorities and fellow inmates.
ian
He's being persecuted in his home country?
ian
Odd
Frankie Wilde
According to a BBC interview with Mr Watson, these so-called explosives were actually butanoic acid which is just old rancid butter. Basically, stink bombs to make the deck of the whaling ship smell so bad that they wouldn’t be able to put any whales on it. You can hold it in your hands, it isn’t dangerous. The actual injuries to the whaling crew were caused by the whalers spraying pepper spray at the protesters and it blowing in the wind back onto themselves. The whole incident is on video, Mr Watson wasn't even on the boat involved at the time and according to him it is the Japanese whalers who are breaking international law due to their activities. I am not an expert on international law but I am pretty sure if you have explosives and you want to sink or damage a ship by throwing them at it it would be a pretty easy thing to do. Did the whaling ship sink? No. Was it damaged? As far as I know, No. Do you think Paul Watson would get a fair trial in Japan? With articles in newspapers like this leading the way, Probably not.
Wasabi
Good news, deport him to Japan and face justice like everybody. If it would have been a regular joe, he would already been in Japan....
Yohan
Watson was arrested on July 21, a court in Greenland decided to extend the custody till Nov. 13.
Living in a cell since more than three months already.
It shows that Japan can be very persistent and has indeed some political influence worldwide when asking for international support of its agenda.
I think the only remaining one still on the run is Ghosn (Nissan), who is wanted by Japan but also by France and who is still hiding since years somewhere in Beirut in Lebanon - for how long he can do that considering the present political situation in that region is the question.