Greenland extends detention of anti-whaling activist Watson

A Greenland court on Monday extended the detention of US-Canadian anti-whaling activist Paul Watson for two more weeks, pending a decision on his extradition to Japan, police said.
The hearing was Watson's sixth since his arrest in July in Nuuk, capital of the Danish autonomous territory.
Watson, who turned 74 on Monday, was detained on a 2012 Japanese arrest warrant, which accuses him of causing damage to a whaling ship in the Antarctic in 2010 and injuring a whaler.
The court in Greenland has today decided that Paul Watson shall continue to be detained until December 18, 2024 in order to ensure his presence in connection with the decision on extradition, police said in a statement.
Prosecutor Mariam Khalil had requested a four-week extension of the detention, while Watson's defence team had sought his release.
We disagreed with the decision and lodged an appeal, lawyer Julie Stage told AFP after the ruling.
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.
He was arrested on July 21 when his ship docked to refuel in Nuuk on its way to intercept a new Japanese whaling factory vessel in the North Pacific, according to the CPWF.
- Decision pending -
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 say they have video footage proving the crew member was not on deck when the stink bomb was thrown. The Nuuk court has refused to view the video.
As he left the court, Watson told reporters that Japan's extradition request has nothing to do with anything that happened 2010.
This is very political, he said.
They want their revenge. That's what this is about.
The Danish justice ministry told AFP over the weekend that it was nearing a decision on the extradition request.
Stage said she expected the decision within 14 days.
Another lawyer for Watson, Jean Tamalet, told AFP on Monday the defence team was very confident.
In November, Watson's lawyers urged Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard to block the extradition.
If Denmark were to agree to Japan's extradition request, Watson's lawyers would lodge an appeal.
Tamalet criticised the extraordinary pressure the Japanese government is putting on the Danish government, which has included threats to cut trade and business deals, he said.
We are up against a war machine that is not just a Tokyo prosecutor, but a government, so that's proof that the Japanese judiciary ... is not at all independent, he added.
You can't extradite someone to a country that doesn't have an independent judiciary.
In September, Watson's lawyers contacted the UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders, claiming that Watson could be subjected to inhumane treatment in Japanese prisons.
Japan's Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya has said the extradition request is an issue of law enforcement at sea rather than a whaling issue.
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.
A petition for his release has gathered more than 210,000 signatures, and some 220,000 have signed in support of his application for French citizenship.

(2024/12/03 16:42)