Anti-whaling campaigner arrested in Greenland and police say he may be extradited to Japan
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
July 22, 2024
BERLIN--Greenland police said they arrested a veteran environmental activist and anti-whaling campaigner on Sunday on an international arrest warrant issued by Japan.
Paul Watson was arrested when his ship docked in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, a police statement said. He will be brought before a district court with a request to detain him pending a decision on his possible extradition to Japan, the statement said.
The Captain Paul Watson Foundation said that more than a dozen police boarded the vessel and led Watson away in handcuffs when it stopped to refuel. The foundation said the ship, along with 25 volunteer crew members, was en route to the North Pacific on a mission to intercept a 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 foundation said in an emailed statement.
“We implore the Danish government to release Captain Watson and not entertain this politically motivated request,” Locky MacLean, a foundation director, said in the statement.
Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark.
Watson, a 73-year-old Canadian-American citizen, is a former head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society whose direct action tactics, including high-seas confrontations with whaling vessels, has drawn support from A-list celebrities and featured in the reality television series “Whale Wars.”
However, it has also brought him into confrontation with authorities. He was detained in Germany in 2012 on a Costa Rican extradition warrant, but skipped bail after learning that he was also sought for extradition by Japan, which has accused him of endangering whalers’ lives during operations in the Antarctic Ocean. He has since lived in countries including France and the United States.
Watson, who left Sea Shepherd in 2022 to establish his own organization, was also a leading member of Greenpeace, but left in 1977 amid disagreements over his aggressive tactics.
According to his foundation, Watson’s current ship, the M/Y John Paul DeJoria, was due to sail through the Northwest Passage to the North Pacific to confront a newly built Japanese factory whaling ship, “a murderous enemy devoid of compassion and empathy hell bent on destroying the most intelligent self-aware sentient beings in the sea.”
Greenland Police Arrest Sea Shepherd Founder Paul Watson
Paul Watson, founder of the activist group Sea Shepherd, has been arrested in Greenland in connection with an Interpol "Red" warrant filed by the government of Japan.
Watson's vessel John Paul DeJoria arrived at the port of Nuuk, Greenland on Sunday for a refueling stop. The DeJoria is operated by Watson's recently-formed Capt. Paul Watson Foundation, and it was under way for the North Pacific to intercept the new Japanese whaling ship, Kangei Maru. The crew intended to take the Northwest Passage en route to the Kangei Maru's operating area. Kangei Maru has drawn scrutiny from conservationists for its large size and extended range, spurring speculation that its true mission could be to restart Japan's long-dormant Antarctic whaling program.
However, Watson will not be joining the DeJoria's mission, at least not immediately. Denmark's federal police met the vessel at the pier, boarded it and placed the 73-year-old activist under arrest. The agency has confirmed that he was detained in connection with a Japanese request for his extradition.
"It appears that Japan had made the notice confidential to facilitate Paul’s travel for the purpose of making an arrest," the foundation claimed.
The Red Notice is believed to be in connection with Watson's activities with his former group Sea Shepherd in 2010, when the group interdicted Japanese whaling operations in the Southern Ocean. That notice - which Watson and his foundation had believed to be withdrawn - was originally issued for alleged acts of "Breaking into the Vessel, Damage to Property, Forcible Obstruction of Business, and Injury," according to Interpol.
Denmark's Ministry of Justice will rule on whether there are grounds to grant Japan's request for extradition. In the meantime, Watson has been held without bail until August 15.
In its decision, the local court in Nuuk noted the circumstances of Watson's last arrest, which occurred in Germany in 2012. He was detained by German authorities on request of the government of Costa Rica, which wanted his extradition in connection with a past run-in with a shark-finning operation. Watson fled house arrest before he could be extradited from Germany. Given his history, the court ruled that Watson is a flight risk.
"We implore the Danish government to release Captain Watson and not entertain this politically-motivated request," said Locky MacLean, Ship Operation’s Director for the foundation.
Prominent anti-whaling activist Watson arrested in Greenland
Prominent anti-whaling environmentalist Paul Watson was arrested in Greenland on Sunday under an international arrest warrant issued by Japan, police and his foundation said.
In a statement, Greenland police said Watson had been arrested after arriving in Nuuk on the ship John Paul DeJoria.
He will be brought before a district court where police will request his detention “before a decision is made on whether he should be extradited to Japan”, they added.
Watson, who featured in the reality tv series “Whale Wars,” founded the Sea Shepherd and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF) organisations, and has drawn attention for direct action tactics, including confrontations with whaling ships out at sea.
CPWF said in a statement that it believed his arrest was related to a so-called Red Notice issued over “Watson’s previous anti-whaling interventions in the Antarctic region.”
CPWF said in a statement that his ship had made port to refuel as part of its “Operation Kangei Maru, a mission to intercept Japan’s newly-built factory whaling ship Kangei Maru in the North Pacific.”
The 9,300-tonne whaler, which set off from Japan in May, butchers and processes whales caught by smaller vessels.
Activists aggressively pursued the Kangei Maru’s predecessor when, prior to 2019, Japan hunted whales in the Antarctic and North Pacific for “scientific” purposes.
That year Japan quit the International Whaling Commission and nowadays conducts commercial whaling, but only in its own waters, and on what it calls a sustainable scale.
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