Danish police detain Environmental hero and star of “Whale Wars” on international arrest order from Japan.
On the morning of Sunday, July 21st, Captain Paul Watson, co-founder of marine conservation Greenpeace, founder of Sea Shepherd and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF), was arrested upon arrival in Nuuk, Greenland.
Captain Watson, on board his 72-meter flagship the M/Y JOHN PAUL DEJORIA stopped in Greenland with 25 volunteer crew to refuel, en route to the North West Passage as a part of the CPWF’s Operation Kangei Maru, a mission to intercept Japan’s newly-built factory whaling ship Kangei Maru in the North Pacific.
“We were here, and arrested Paul due to an international arrest order from Japan”, stated the leader of the Danish federal police boarding party at the site of the arrest. The crew were given no further information.
The arrest is believed to be related to a former Red Notice issued for Captain Watson’s previous anti-whaling interventions in the Antarctic region. Japan’s Antarctic research whaling program JARPA was declared illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2014.
“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 Paul into a false sense of security. We implore the Danish government to release Captain Watson and not entertain this politically-motivated request”, stated Locky MacLean, Ship Operation’s Director for CPWF.
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. 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 Nuuk, over a dozen Danish police and SWAT team members boarded the M/Y John Paul DeJoria as soon as it made port. After a handcuffed Captain Watson was led off of the ship, he was taken to the local police station. The crew and Foundation have no means of contacting him and have had no further news. At the time of writing, Watson remains in custody and it is unknown whether Denmark will allow Mr. Watson to be extradited to Japan.
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