Whaling activist Watson freed after Denmark rejects extradition

Copyright AFP Leiff Josefsen

Camille BAS-WOHLERT

Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson was on Tuesday released from detention in Greenland, after Denmark decided to refuse a Japanese extradition request over a 2010 clash with whalers.

Watson has been held since July when his ship docked in Nuuk — the capital of the Danish autonomous territory — on a 2012 Japanese warrant, which accuses him of causing damage to a whaling ship and injuring a whaler.

Greenland police said in a statement that following the Ministry of Justice’s decision in the case of extradition for Paul Watson, the 74-year-old was released at 08:46 am local time (1046 GMT).

“He is free. We’ve just been informed by the Ministry of Justice, he’s not going to be extradited,” Watson’s lawyer Julie Stage told AFP.

Watson, who featured in the reality TV series “Whale Wars”, founded Sea Shepherd and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF) and is known for radical tactics including confrontations with whaling ships at sea.

According to documents viewed by AFP, Denmark reached its decision while considering the duration of Watson’s detention following his arrest and the time it would take for a possible extradition to be carried out.

The ministry also considered “the fact that the acts for which extradition is sought are more than 14 years ago, and the nature of the acts in general.”

“The decision is based on an overall assessment of the circumstances of the specific case,” the ministry said in a statement.

Contacted by AFP, Japanese foreign ministry officials in charge of the issue were not immediately available for comment.

– Tried to silence –

Watson was arrested on July 21, when his ship was on its way to “intercept” a new Japanese whaling factory vessel in the North Pacific, according to the CPWF.

Tokyo accuses Watson of injuring a Japanese crew member with a stink bomb intended to disrupt the whalers’ activities during a Sea Shepherd clash with the Shonan Maru 2 vessel in 2010.

Watson’s lawyers have said they have video footage proving the crew member was not on deck when the stink bomb was thrown.

“Japan tried to silence a man whose only crime was to denounce the illegality of the industrial massacre disguised as scientific research,” one of his lawyers, Francois Zimeray, told AFP. 

Zimeray added that Watson “will now be able to resume his fight for respect for nature.”

Zimeray has previously argued that Watson would not get a fair trial in Japan.

“In Japan, there is a presumption of guilt,” he told AFP, adding: “Prosecutors are proud to announce that they have a 99.6 percent conviction rate.”

In September, Watson’s lawyers contacted the UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders, claiming that he could be “subjected to inhumane treatment” in Japanese prisons.

– ‘Not over’ –

Danish Minister of Justice Peter Hummelgaard, stressed that “this decision does not mean that Denmark shares the concerns that have been raised in certain circles about the Japanese legal system and the protection of human rights in Japan in relation to this specific case.”

“Japan is a democratic state that respects fundamental human rights. There has also been a good and close dialogue with the Japanese authorities,” Hummelgaard said.

In a rare public comment on the case, Japan’s Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya has said that the extradition request was “an issue of law enforcement at sea rather than a whaling issue”.

Jean Tamalet, also a lawyer for Watson, told AFP that “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,” Tamalet said.

Watson wants to return to France, where he had been living since July 2023 and where his two young children attend school. He requested French citizenship in October.

Watson’s legal woes have attracted support from the public and activists, including prominent British conservationist Jane Goodall, who has urged French President Emmanuel Macron to grant him political asylum.