Anti-whaling activist Watson calls arrest in Greenland "political" August 9, 2024

Watson is known for radical tactics, including confrontations with whaling ships at sea (Loic VENANCE)

By AFP - Agence France Presse

Anti-whaling activist Watson calls arrest in Greenland "political"

US-Canadian environmental activist Paul Watson considers his detention in Greenland and Japan's extradition request to be political, his campaign group Sea Shepherd said on Thursday.

Lamya Essemlali, president of the organization, who visits him "almost daily" in prison in Nuuk, the capital of the autonomous Danish territory, told AFP he was "very aware of the situation".

"He knows that Japan is throwing its full political weight behind him, that he is a political symbol," Essemlali said.

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

The 73-year-old activist was arrested on July 21 when the ship John Paul DeJoria docked in Nuuk to refuel.

According to the CPWF, the ship was on its way to intercept a new Japanese whaling factory ship in the North Pacific.

Watson was arrested on a "Red Notice" from Interpol in 2012 after Japan accused him of damaging and causing injury to one of its whaling ships in the Antarctic two years earlier.

Japan called on the Danish authorities to extradite him at the end of July.

The court in Nuuk is expected to decide on his imprisonment on August 15. The decision on extradition lies with the Danish government.

Watson's supporters will be demonstrating throughout France this weekend before another protest takes place in the Danish capital Copenhagen on Monday, August 12.

"No regrets"

"Even if he were guilty, it is clear that there has never been an extradition based on such minor offenses," Essemlali said.

"He has no regrets, he knows what he did was right," Essemlali said, adding that she "never thought" Denmark would arrest Watson and consider extraditing him.

Watson would be "treated particularly badly" in a Japanese prison, she said.

In Japan, Watson faces a charge of assault, which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison or a fine of up to 500,000 yen (3,300 US dollars).

He also faces a charge of forcible obstruction of business, which is punishable by up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 500,000 yen.

Only Japan, Iceland, and Norway allow commercial whaling.

His arrest has sparked a series of protests calling for his release.

French film legend and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot has campaigned for Watson in the past and called for his release in a telephone interview with French television station LCI on Thursday.

"He is an extraordinary character, a hero who has spent his life defending whales against the Japanese, against the Japanese harpoons," she said.

"If he is extradited to Japan, he is dead."

French President Emmanuel Macron's office has asked Denmark not to extradite Watson, who has been living in France for a year.

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