Greenland detention of founding Sea Shepherd activist Paul Watson extended

The founder of the Sea Shepherd association is once again kept in detention. “The Greenland court has ruled that Paul Watson must remain detained until October 23, 2024 in order to ensure his presence in the extradition decision” of the Danish government in response to Japan’s request, the Greenland police said in a press release this Wednesday, October 2. The 73-year-old American-Canadian activist appealed.

This decision follows the prosecutor’s request to extend the detention of the environmental activist. For the third time since his arrest at the end of July in Nuuk, capital of the autonomous Danish territory, “the public prosecutor requested an extension of the detention period”wrote to Agence France-Presse the prosecutor in charge of the case, Mariam Khalil.

The president of Sea Shepherd France, Lamya Essemlali, told AFP before the hearing that it risked “to be an encore repetita of the last two hearings in Nuuk, a travesty of justice”. Paul Watson’s lawyer Julie Stage said: “I still think he should be released. » “Ultimately, the question of proportionality (of pre-trial detention in relation to the crime) will pose a problem”she continued.

Japan demands his extradition

Nearly two and a half months earlier, on Sunday July 21, Paul Watson was arrested while en route with his ship the John Paul DeJoria to intercept a new Japanese whaling factory ship. Japan is demanding his extradition, with the relaunch of a request issued in 2012 via an Interpol red notice. He accuses him of being co-responsible for damage and injuries aboard a whaling ship two years earlier as part of a campaign led by Sea Shepherd.

The septuagenarian activist’s lawyers contacted the United Nations Special Rapporteur on environmental defenders in mid-September, denouncing in particular the risk he runs of “to undergo inhumane treatment (…) in Japanese jails”.

According to them, the Japanese request is based on assertions “fallacious”which they would like to demonstrate by presenting to the Nuuk court video clips of the events, filmed by the Discovery channel. A request which was refused to them during the last two hearings. Furthermore, according to them, this offense is not punishable by prison under Greenlandic law.

« The process is slow »

As a result, beyond the question of continued detention, the lawyers are suspended from the decision of the Danish Ministry of Justice which must decide whether or not to extradite Paul Watson. The ministry told AFP that the examination of the official extradition request was ” in progress “without giving a timetable.

“The process is slow. The Greenlandic police are carrying out their investigation which they must transmit to the Attorney General who must make his recommendations to the minister”lamented Paul Watson’s lawyer Julie Stage. “We want the Danish minister to finally make a decision. At the moment, they are letting him languish in prison, it’s frankly problematic”storm for its part Lamya Essemlali.

According to the president of Sea Shepherd France, the conditions of the activist’s pre-trial detention have recently become tougher. “They practically cut off all contact with the outside world. He is only allowed 10 minutes of telephone time per week with his wife”she said. The activist obtained the signatures of 100,000 people at the bottom of the petition requesting his release.

Paris also asked Copenhagen not to grant the extradition request. From his cell in the Nuuk penitentiary center, Paul Watson displays his determination to continue his fight. “If they imagine that this will prevent our opposition! I only changed ships, and my current ship is “Prison Nuuk”he declared at the end of August in an interview with AFP. For the activist, the Japanese authorities want to use it “as an example to show that we must not touch their whaling”.