A court docket in Greenland has once more determined to increase the custody of anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson, till Dec. 4, whereas Denmark considers a Japanese extradition request
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A court docket in Greenland once more determined Wednesday to increase the custody of anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson, till Dec. 4, whereas Denmark considers a Japanese extradition request.
Japan doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the Scandinavian nation. Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark and handles police and justice issues.
Watson, a 73-year-old Canadian-American citizen, is a former head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Its direct-action techniques, together with high-seas confrontations with whaling vessels, have drawn help from A-list celebrities and had been featured within the actuality tv collection “Whale Wars.”
Watson was arrested on July 21 when his ship docked in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital. A Greenland court docket has repeatedly authorised his detention whereas Danish authorities look into his attainable extradition to Japan, the place he faces as much as 15 years in jail, in accordance with the Captain Paul Watson Basis.
“It isn’t truthful that Watson needs to be detained in a case that ought to have been concluded a very long time in the past,” mentioned Watson’s lawyer, Finn Meinel, in accordance with the Greenland newspaper Sermitsiaq.
Japan’s coast guard sought his arrest over an encounter with a Japanese whaling analysis ship in 2010. Watson was accused of obstructing the crew’s official duties by ordering the captain of his ship to throw explosives on the analysis ship.
Sermitsiaq quoted Watson as telling the court docket that “nobody was injured then. It’s completely ridiculous,” and that “Japan is a prison nation, and Denmark helps the nation.”
Prosecutor Mariam Khalil earlier mentioned there was a flight danger and an extension of the custody was wanted.
Sea Shepherd France has mentioned that Watson requested France’s president for political asylum.
