On December 17, 2024, anti-whaling activist Paul Watson's lawyer informed that the activist was released from Denmark prison and won't be extradited to Japan. Watson was arrested from Nuuk, the capital of the autonomous Danish territory of Greenland, on July 21 by Greenland Police.
The arrest was based on an Interpol red notice released by the Japanese authorities against him for allegedly damaging one of their whaling ship in Antarctica in 2010 and injuring one of the crews with a stink bomb, The Guardian reports. According to Japan, Watson allegedly asked the captain of his ship to throw explosives at the whaling ship.
Watson pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, and he and his lawyer argued that Japan was trying to make an example of him. According to reports, Japan wants to arrest Paul Watson for allegedly exposing to the world the country's illegal whaling activities that they mask under scientific whaling while filming the series WHALE WARS.
Japan wanted to extradite him to the country to be tried for the charges. But Denmark's justice ministry today decided not to extradite him, citing that the Japanese government could not provide a satisfactory answer to whether the time Watson spent in Denmark Prison would be counted in the sentencing he may receive in Japan.
According to paulwatsonfoundations.org, the 74-year-old activist gave the below statement while exiting the Nuuk Prison:
"Sometimes, going to jail is necessary to make your point. Every situation offers an opportunity, and this was another chance to shine a global spotlight on Japan’s illegal whaling in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary. If I had been sent to Japan, I might never have come home. I’m relieved that didn’t happen."
Paul Watson and Marine Conservative activism
Paul Watson, a Canadian activist, worked with Green Peace, "an international environmental NGO" before he left the organization to create Sea Shepherd, an "anti-poaching and direct action group" focused on marine conservation. In 2022, he decided to open his own foundation/organization, Captain Paul Watson Foundation.
The Japanese are not the only people Watson has gotten in trouble with. According to reports, in 2012, Watson was detained by German authorities on a warrant released by Costa Rica. Reports on the case suggest that Costa Rica made up the charges to appease Japan, which wanted him extradited.
Costa Rica charged him for endangering one of their shark fishing boat and its crew in 2002. Sea Shepherd, with whom Watson was working at the time, said that Watson was away filming a documentary when the incident happened.
According to ABC News, the incident went down as follows: the Sea Shepherd confronted a Costa Rican ship, the Varadero, allegedly committing an illegal shark finning operation. But, the ship's crew said that the organization tried to kill them by pounding into the Costa Rican ship.
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Coming to Paul Watson's feud with Japan, the former is said to have come in contact with and tried stopping many Japanese whaling ships, and this was well known to the world through his series WHALE WARS, which allegedly brought negative press to Japan's illegal whaling activities.
Watson and his organization were referred to as 'eco-terrorists' by Japan and other countries, and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals once referred to the Sea Shepherds as 'Pirates' for the methods they use for marine conservation activism.
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