Denmark frees whale defender Paul Watson, founder of Sea Shepherd, after refusing to extradite him to Japan

“These five months have been an extension of the campaign” against whaling, added the 74 year old activistof American and Canadian nationality, founder of Sea Shepherd and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF).

Watson was arrested in Nuukthe capital of Greenlanda self-governing island that belongs to Denmark, on July 21 following the reactivation of a request issued by Japan in 2012 through a red notice of Interpol.

Japanese authorities accuse him of being jointly responsible for damage and injuries aboard a Japanese whaling ship in 2010, as part of a campaign by the Sea Shepherd organization.

«They have the audacity to accuse me of something minor. “My real crime was denouncing their illegal operations,” said Watson, who when he was arrested in July was heading with his ship “John Paul DeJoria” to intercept a Japanese whaling ship.

Japan’s reaction

Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya has stated that the extradition request “was an issue related to law enforcement, not whaling.”

For his part, the spokesperson for the Japanese government, Yoshimasa Hayashi, has indicated that it is “regrettable that the Danish government does not accept Japan’s request” and that they have expressed this to Copenhagen.

The president of Japan’s leading whaling company Kyodo Senpaku, Hideki Tokoro, called on the government to continue pushing to bring Watson to justice. «They hit our ships. What they do is simply a business to collect donations», he told AFP.

Denmark has justified its decision by the length of Watson’s detention after his arrest in July and the time it would take for a possible extradition to Japan, according to the decision consulted by AFP.

“Japan tried to silence a man whose only crime is to have denounced the illegality of the industrial massacre disguised as scientific research,” declared one of his lawyers, François Zimeray. Watson “will be able to resume his action for respect for nature, which is also a fight for humanity and justice,” he added.

For her part, the director of Sea Shepherd France, Lamya Essemlali, testified alongside Watson after his release and assured that she had prepared “for the worst, to fight, even to get him out of Japan if necessary.”

Return to France

For now, Watson plans to return to France, where his family lives. «That’s what I have in mind now. “And it’s good to be there before Christmas because I haven’t seen them since June.”

“However, the fight is not over», says Jean Tamalet, of King & Spalding, one of his lawyers, explaining that they are going to challenge the Interpol red notice and the Japanese arrest warrant «to ensure that Captain Paul Watson can travel around the world again, with total serenity.

The arrest of the activist, who has nearly 50 years dedicated to the defense of whales and is known for his media actions, he received support from France so that Denmark did not extradite him.

“Collective mobilization has borne fruit,” the French Minister for the Ecological Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, has published on the X network.

Watson’s lawyers are particularly critical of the fallibility of the Japanese judicial system. According to François Zimeray, in “Japan there is a presumption of guilt.” “Prosecutors are proud to announce that they have a 99.6% conviction rate,” they stated.

However, the Danish government has distanced itself from these claims. “This decision does not mean that Denmark shares the concerns that have been expressed in certain circles about the Japanese legal system and the protection of human rights in Japan in relation to this specific case,” said Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard. in a statement.