COPENHAGEN: Denmark’s justice ministry said Thursday that it had received Japan’s extradition request for anti-whaling activist Paul Watson, who was detained in Greenland last month on an international arrest warrant. Watson, the 73-year-old American-Canadian founder of the Sea Shepherd activist group, was arrested on July 21 in Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, over a 2010 altercation with Japanese whaling ships.
Watson, who featured in the reality TV series "Whale Wars”, founded Sea Shepherd and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF), and is known for direct action tactics including confrontations with whaling ships at sea. "The Ministry of Justice received a formal extradition request regarding Paul Watson from the Japanese authorities yesterday,” the ministry told AFP in an email.
It said it would forward the case to Greenland police, "unless the ministry on the present basis finds grounds to reject the extradition request beforehand”. If the case is forwarded to Greenland police, they will investigate "whether there is basis for extradition”, including whether it is in accordance with the extradition act applicable to Greenland, the ministry said. But the ultimate decision on Watson’s extradition will be made by Denmark’s justice ministry, it added.
A custody hearing will be held in Greenland on August 15, pending a Danish decision on the extradition request. Watson was arrested after arriving in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, when the ship John Paul DeJoria docked to refuel. The vessel was on its way to "intercept” a new Japanese whaling factory vessel in the North Pacific, according to the CPWF. One of the activist’s lawyers, Francois Zimeray, said he was "not surprised” by the extradition request.
"Japan has a personal vendetta against Paul Watson, and this so-called offence is the pretext for revenge against a man who defied and therefore humiliated them,” Zimeray said. He said an extradition to Japan would be a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, since "the country does not respect international standards on fair trials and prisons.” Watson was arrested on the basis of an Interpol "Red Notice” issued in 2012, when Japan accused him of causing damage and injury to one of its whaling ships in the Antarctic two years earlier.
He faces a charge of causing injury, which can carry up to 15 years in prison or a fine of up to 500,000 yen ($3,300). He also faces a charge of forcible obstruction of business, which carries a penalty of up to three years in prison or a fine up to 500,000 yen.
Japan is one of only three countries in the world to permit commercial whaling, along with Iceland and Norway. Watson’s wife on Thursday appealed to Denmark’s King Frederik X and Queen Mary to secure his release. "Please, Denmark, release Paul!” Yana Watson posted on Facebook, posting pictures of him with their two young sons.
"He has diabetes Type 1. Japanese prison will be lethal for him,” she said.
Earlier this week, the head of the French branch of Sea Shepherd said Watson did not regret his actions despite the risk of extradition. "Paul is doing well, he is in good spirits. He has no regrets,” Lamya Essemlali said in a statement after visiting Watson in custody on Monday.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s office has asked Danish authorities not to extradite Watson, who has lived in France for the past year. — AFP