Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson released after Denmark rejects extradition. environmental news
Copenhagen rejected Japan’s extradition request over a 2010 incident involving a Japanese whaling ship in the Antarctic.
Denmark’s Justice Ministry says anti-whaling activist Paul Watson has been released from prison in Greenland and will not be extradited to Japan.
Japan had asked Denmark to extradite Watson, who had been detained in Greenland since his arrest in July. Greenland is an autonomous region of Denmark.
Denmark’s Justice Minister Peter Hammelgaard said on Tuesday that he had not received sufficient assurances from the Japanese government that Watson’s five-month prison sentence would be deducted from any future sentences.
Watson was captured by police officers while refueling a ship in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, on July 21. The local police were acting on the Interpol Red Notice issued by Japan.
Tokyo accused Watson of conspiring to trespass in the Antarctic in 2010, disrupt trade and damage a Japanese whaling ship.
The charges, which also included assaulting a crew member, were punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
‘It’s nice to be outside’
Watson, a pioneer in the founding of Greenpeace and former head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, has spent decades trying to stop whalers on the high seas.
His well-documented confrontation with whaling ships has received support from many celebrities.
Watson has denied the Japanese government’s allegations.
“After five months, it’s good to be out and … it’s good to see that they’re not sending me to Japan and so I’m going home for Christmas,” Watson said in a video posted on social media by his foundation. Am.” release.
He added, “The only hard thing was my two little boys…I haven’t seen them since June.”
His attorney Jonas Christopherson said, “We are pleased and relieved that Paul Watson is now free.”
“I think he’ll have some lunch or breakfast as a free man and then find his way back home.”
Watson, a Canadian-American citizen, was previously detained in Germany on a Costa Rican extradition warrant in 2012, but jumped bail after learning that Japan also sought his extradition.
Since then he has lived in countries like France and the United States.
Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission in 2019 and has since resumed commercial whaling within its maritime exclusive economic zone.
Japan says whale meat is part of its food culture and supports the sustainable use of whales.
