Prominent Anti-Whaling Activist Paul Watson Arrested in Greenland

Sea Shepherd founder, world TV star, and alleged “eco-terrorist” Paul Watson has been arrested by Danish authorities and is facing imaginable extradition to Japan.

Watson arrived successful Nuuk, Greenland connected July 22 aboard the John Paul Dejoria vessel. The program was to refuel the vessel and sail to the bluish Pacific wherever the unit would tussle with a Japanese whaling ship. But those plans person been delayed. “We were instantly boarded by a SWAT squad and Danish constabulary who wasted nary clip successful cuffing Paul Watson, our founder, and arresting him connected a decades-old reddish announcement astatine the petition of Japan,” Locky MacLean, skipper of the John Paul Dejora, said in a station connected X.

This morning, Captain Paul Watson was arrested successful Nuuk, Greenland by Danish national police, who boarded the M/Y John Paul DeJoria arsenic soon arsenic it docked.

The unit had stopped to refuel portion en way to the Northwest Passage arsenic portion of #OpKangeiMaru, our run aimed at… pic.twitter.com/ANWoRFiR42

— Captain Paul Watson Foundation 🐋🏴‍☠️ (@CaptPaulWatson) July 21, 2024

Watson on with Sea Shepherd has worked for decades to disrupt commercialized whaling. He’s lauded arsenic a leader of the question by immoderate and derided arsenic a violent by others. Watson and Sea Shepherd usage nonstop enactment to messiness with whaling vessels operations and those tactics are the root of decades of ineligible trouble.

Watson began his vocation successful the precocious 1960s and was an aboriginal and influential subordinate of Greenpeace earlier aboriginal falling retired with the group. He went connected to recovered Sea Shepherd and has led the radical successful aggregate palmy operations against whaling vessels successful the decades since.

In 1986, the radical boarded 2 whaling ships successful Iceland successful the dormant of nighttime and successfully scuttled them. Watson has repeatedly claimed to person harassed and sunk aggregate ships. Sea Shepherd’s ships often collide with different vessels successful the water and detractors person accused the radical of utilizing rifles to descend tiny vessels and make chaos.

Japan and Watson person been astatine likelihood for a agelong time. The Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR), a Japanese technological probe enactment funded by Japanese fishers, maintains a database of Watson’s supposed convulsive activities. The ICR has besides killed hundreds of whales successful the pursuit of what it says is technological probe into the animals.

Japan archetypal obtained an arrest warrant against Watson successful 2010. At the time, Japan’s seashore defender claimed Watson was wanted connected suspicion of battle and disrupting the concern practices of the Japanese whaling industry. “There is nary uncertainty that the motives of the Japanese seashore defender and the Japanese authorities are political,” Watson told The Guardian astatine the time.

Things are a batch antithetic successful 2024. UN Courts person handed down aggregate judgments against Japan’s various whaling activities and Watson has ever maintained that Sea Shepherd is acting to enforce planetary laws connected the precocious seas. This caller apprehension appears to beryllium a Red Notice—an planetary apprehension warrant issued by Interpol—connected to the aged Japanese contented warrant.

“It is believed that this apprehension is connected to a erstwhile Red Notice issued for Watson’s anti-whaling activities successful the Antarctic,” a radical connected to Watson said successful a station connected X. “This improvement comes arsenic a astonishment since the Foundation’s lawyers had reported that the Red Notice had been withdrawn. However, it appears that Japan had made the announcement confidential to facilitate Paul’s question for the intent of making an arrest. Paul is presently successful custody, and it is unclear if Denmark volition extradite him to Japan.”

It’s not the archetypal clip Watson, who is 73, has sat successful jailhouse portion waiting for lawyers to benignant things out. When helium was 29, a tribunal successful Quebec convicted him to 10 days successful situation and an $8,000 good aft helium assaulted a fisheries officer. Watson was portion of a radical that disrupted a seal hunt.