Arrested on July 21, Watson will have spent more than three months in detention by this new deadline if a decision is not made by then.
The Greenland court “decided today that Paul Watson should be kept in detention until October 23, 2024 in order to ensure his presence in the context of the extradition decision”Greenlandic police said in a statement.
“Unfortunately, this is not a surprise. The court has not changed its position”Julie Stage, a lawyer for Mr. Watson, who appealed this decision, told AFP.
“This is all based on a false accusation made by a criminal enterprise, the Japanese whaling industry”said Paul Watson as he entered court.
On Wednesday, the courts authorized the previous appeal against his continued detention filed at the beginning of September. He must now be presented to the Supreme Court of Denmark, added the counsel for the 73-year-old American-Canadian activist.
Founder of Sea Shepherd and the ocean foundation that bears his name, 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, having revived a request issued in 2012 via an Interpol red notice. He accuses him of being co-responsible for damage and injuries aboard a Japanese whaling ship two years earlier as part of a campaign led by Sea Shepherd.
In mid-September, the septuagenarian activist’s lawyers contacted the United Nations Special Rapporteur on environmental defenders, 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 extracts of the events, filmed by the Discovery channel, a request which has again been refused to them until now.
Furthermore, this offense is not punishable by prison under Greenlandic law, they argue.
“Slow process”
Beyond the question of continued detention, the lawyers are hanging on the decision of the Danish Ministry of Justice to 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”explained Ms. Stage before the hearing.
“We want the Danish minister to finally make a decision. At the moment, they are letting him languish in prison, it’s frankly problematic”storms the president of Sea Shepherd France Lamya Essemlali, close to Paul Watson.
According to her, 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.
A controversial personality in the environmentalist community, particularly because of his muscular methods, the activist obtained the signatures of 100,000 people on the petition requesting his release. On the political level, Paris asked Copenhagen not to extradite him.
From his cell in Nuuk Prison, a modern gray building located on the side of rocks, 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. The Japanese “want to use me as an example to show that their whaling should not be touched”.
