Japan dismayed as Denmark frees anti-whaling activist Paul Watson
Sea Shepherd founder was detained in Greenland earlier this year on a 2010 Japanese Interpol warrant
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Your support makes all the difference.Japan said it was disappointed after Denmark rejected its extradition request for anti-whaling activist Paul Watson.
Mr Watson, 74, founder of the Sea Shepherd group, was released from jail in Greenland on Tuesday. He had been detained since July on a 2010 Japanese Interpol warrant.
The Danish justice ministry decided to release Mr Watson due to uncertainty around Japan crediting his detention time and the nature and age of the charges.
“It is regrettable that the Denmark government did not accept Japan’s request of passing him over," top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said, adding that Tokyo had conveyed this to the Danish side.
“Paul Watson is wanted internationally as an accomplice of the February 2010 incident where activists of Sea Shepherd injured Japanese whalers and damaged properties after an arrest warrant was issued.
“The Japanese government will continue to deal with it appropriately based on law and evidence.”
Mr Watson, known for disrupting Japanese whaling operations, was arrested while refuelling his ship John Paul DeJoria. He faced potential extradition on charges related to the 2010 whaling confrontation, including interference with an alleged lawful business and property damage. He was accused of obstructing the crew’s official duties by instructing his ship’s captain to throw explosives at the vessel.
Mr Watson has long been critical of Japan’s whaling practices and legal system.
Following his release, he plans to return to France to spend Christmas with his wife and young sons.
“We are happy and relieved that Paul Watson is now free,” Jonas Christoffersen, executive director of the Danish Institute of Human Rights, said.
“I guess he will have some lunch or breakfast as a free man and then will find a way to get back home.”
Mr Watson appeared in the reality TV series Whale Wars and established the Captain Paul Watson Foundation after leaving Sea Shepherd.
“I’m certainly relieved,” Mr Watson told Reuters after his release. “I haven’t seen my children since June. But the support here in Greenland has been incredible.”
He added that he “received more than 4,000 letters of support, including around a dozen from supporters in Japan”. “My arrest has focused international attention on Japan’s continuing illegal whaling operations and their intent to go back to the Southern Ocean. So, in fact, these five months have been an extension of the campaign,” Mr Watson said.
One of his lawyers, Jean Tamalet, said “the fight is not over”.
“We will now have to challenge the red notice and the Japanese arrest warrant, to ensure that Captain Paul Watson can once again travel the world in complete peace of mind, and never experience a similar episode again,” Mr Tamalet said, according to The Japan Times.
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