Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson has been arrested in Greenland on a global arrest warrant issued by Japan, authorities and his basis mentioned.
Watson, star of actuality TV present “Conflict of the Whales,” was arrested when his boat docked within the Greenland capital Nuuk, a police assertion mentioned.
The Captain Paul Watson Basis mentioned the arrest was believed to be associated to an Interpol Crimson Discover issued for Mr Watson’s earlier anti-whaling interventions within the Antarctic area.
Police mentioned the 73-year-old man can be taken to a district courtroom and requested to be detained pending a call on whether or not he could also be extradited to Japan.
lens Published by his foundation on X Footage confirmed police handcuffing Mr Watson on the John Paul DeJoria boat, placing him right into a police automobile and driving him away.
His basis mentioned it was “fully shocked because the purple discover disappeared months in the past”.
“We had been shocked as a result of that would imply it had been deleted or stored secret. We now perceive that Japan stored it secret with a purpose to lure Paul right into a false sense of safety,” Rocky McLean, the inspiration’s director of ship operations, mentioned in an announcement. said in an announcement.
“We implore the Danish authorities to launch Captain Watson and to not settle for this politically motivated demand.”
Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark with self-governing authorities and its personal parliament.
In 2012, Interpol issued a purple discover for Mr Watson, saying he was wished by Japan for inflicting injury and harm in two incidents focusing on Japanese whaling ships in Antarctic waters in 2010.
The Japanese authorities has not but commented, however a spokesman for Japan’s coast guard advised AFP it was conscious of the arrests.
Mr Watson’s basis mentioned he was en path to “intercept the newly constructed Japanese manufacturing facility ship ‘Kangei Maru’ within the North Pacific”.
The ship set out from Japan in Could to slaughter whales caught and killed by smaller boats.
Activists have focused the Kangei Maru’s predecessor earlier than 2019, when Japan hunted whales within the Antarctic and North Pacific for “scientific” functions.
Japan withdrew from the Worldwide Whaling Fee in 2019 and now solely conducts industrial whaling in its personal waters and on a so-called sustainable scale.
Nonetheless, Mr Watson’s basis believes Japan plans to renew excessive seas whaling within the Southern Ocean and North Pacific as quickly as subsequent 12 months.
The group mentioned in an announcement that the “reactivation” of the purple discover in opposition to Mr Watson “is politically motivated and coincides with the launch of a brand new manufacturing facility whale processing vessel”.
Mr. Watson has gained supporters around the globe for his many years of activism however has additionally been criticized for his aggressive ways and confronted authorized issues.
A number of the criticism got here from Greenpeace, of which Mr Watson claimed he was a co-founder, though Deny this.
