Danish federal police this past weekend arrested Sea Shepherd Founder Captain Paul Watson upon his arrival in Nuuk, Greenland.
The arrest is believed to be related to a former Red Notice issued for Watson’s previous anti-whaling activities in the Antarctic region. In 2014, the International Court of Justice declared Japan’s Antarctic research whaling program JARPA to be illegal.
According to Locky MacLean, Ship Operation’s Director for the Captai Paul Watson Foundation:
“We’re completely shocked, as the Red Notice had disappeared a few months ago. We were surprised because it could mean that it had been erased or made confidential. We understand now that Japan made it confidential to lure us into a false sense of security. We implore the Danish government to release Captain Watson and not entertain this politically-motivated request.”
Operating in breach of the ICJ ruling for several years, Japan eventually ceased Antarctic high-seas whaling in 2016, and now only hunts whales within its territorial waters.
In an Instagram post, the foundation said:
“CPWF believes Japan plans to resume high-seas whaling in the Southern Ocean and North Pacific as early as 2025, and the reactivation of the Red Notice against Captain Watson is politically motivated and coincides with the launch of a newly-built factory whale processing vessel.”
In a subsequent post, the foundation said Watson will be detained in Nuuk until August 15th:
“The reason for this is to give the Danish Ministry of Justice time to investigate whether there is a case to extradite him to Japan on an international arrest warrant. The maximum sentence in Japan is 15 years in prison. The judge mentioned that no bail would be granted. The court does not know how long the Ministry of Justice will take to deliberate, so this preliminary date of August 15 has been set. Paul can either accept the judge’s decision or appeal. He chose to appeal.”
