A court in Greenland has again extended the time in custody for a prominent anti-whaling activist as Denmark considers an extradition request from Japan. The court ruled on Wednesday, September 4, that Canadian-American Paul Watson, 73, must remain in detention until October 2 while Denmark’s justice ministry considers the request. Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark, which doesn’t have an extradition treaty with Japan.
Watson is the former head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, whose high-seas confrontations with whaling vessels have drawn widespread attention. He was arrested on July 21 when his ship docked in Greenland’s capital. Japan’s coast guard sought his arrest over an encounter with a Japanese whaling research ship in 2010, when he was accused of obstructing the crew’s official duties by ordering the captain of his ship to throw explosives. Watson is said to face up to 15 years in prison.
Watson was one of the founders of the Greenpeace organization, which he left in 1977 due to disagreements over militant modes of action. That same year, he founded Sea Shepherd, an organization dedicated to protecting the oceans and biodiversity. The methods employed, such as boarding ships at sea and sabotaging docked vessels, made the captain and his organization famous, while being condemned by his opponents. In 2022, after internal disagreements, he was ousted from the organization, creating Sea Shepherd Origins and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation in order to continue traveling the seas/
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