For the fifth time since his arrest, Paul Watson, 73, appeared this Wednesday, November 13, 2024 before the Greenlandic justice system which ruled on his fate. The environmental activist therefore remains in detention until December 4, police said, while Denmark must decide on Japan's extradition request linked to its fight for whales. According to police, the environmental activist appealed the decision.
The founder of Sea Shepherd, who recently applied for French nationality, was arrested on July 21 in Nuuk, capital of Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory. He was on his way with his ship the “John Paul DeJoria” to intercept a new Japanese whaling factory ship. It is in another case relating to whaling, dating back to 2010, that Japan is requesting his extradition, specifies theAFP.
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Sentiment d’injustice
The slowness of Denmark, which has the final say on the Japanese request, is causing some frustration among those close to the activist. “As time goes by, the feeling of injustice grows more and more”for her part noted Lamya Essemlali, the president of Sea Shepherd France.
“In ten days, it will be four months since he was imprisoned, which corresponds to the maximum length of his sentence, if he had been convicted,” she emphasizes.
The Danish Ministry of Justice, which recently received opinions from the Greenland police and the Directorate General of Public Prosecutions on the extradition request, did not indicate when it would issue its decision. If he were to refuse extradition, “there would be no further grounds for detention and (Paul Watson) would be released as soon as possible after this decision is brought to the attention of the Greenland police”explained the prosecutor in charge of the case. Otherwise, his defenders would appeal.
Request for asylum in France
Paul Watson hopes to return to France, where he has lived since July 2023 and where his young children go to school. His setbacks aroused the support of part of public opinion and other activists. British primatologist Jane Goodall called on French President Emmanuel Macron to grant asylum to the American-Canadian.
Japan is, along with Norway and Iceland, one of the last three countries in the world to practice commercial whaling.
