Japan has requested the extradition of the environmental activist to the Danish Ministry of Justice. Japanese authorities accuse him of being jointly responsible for damage and injuries on board a Japanese whaling ship.
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Another refusal for Paul Watson. The High Court of Greenland has confirmed the continued detention of Paul Watson, according to a statement from the country’s authorities posted on their website. The detention of the American-Canadian environmental activist has been extended until September 5, while the Danish government awaits a decision on his extradition to Japan for a case related to his fight for the defense of whales.
The activist had tried to appeal the previous decision of the Greenlandic courts to keep him in prison. At the previous hearing, the 73-year-old activist’s defense had considered his continued detention disproportionate, more than three weeks after his arrest on July 21 in Nuuk, the capital of the autonomous Danish territory.
Paul Watson, founder of Sea Shepherd and the ocean foundation that bears his name, who had been living in France for over a year, was arrested on July 21 on his ship, the John Paul DeJoriaafter docking. The boat was coming to refuel in view “to intercept” Japan’s new whaling factory ship in the North Pacific, according to Captain Paul Watson’s foundation.
The arrest was made on the basis of an Interpol Red Notice issued in 2012, when Japan accused him of being jointly responsible for damage and injuries on board a Japanese whaling ship two years earlier as part of a campaign led by Sea Shepherd. Paul Watson’s lawyers say the arrest warrant is based on false information.
