The controversial founding father of a marine conservation activist group has requested political asylum in France to keep away from a trial in Japan, the place he faces as much as 15 years in jail.
A Greenland court docket has prolonged the custody of anti-whaling activist Paul Watson till November 13.
Denmark is presently contemplating an extradition request from Japan, the place the Sea Shepherd founder faces as much as 15 years in jail for the alleged assault on a ship.
Watson is accused by the Japanese coast guard of ordering his ship’s captain to throw explosives at a Japanese whaling ship, thereby impeding its official duties.
He was first arrested in July, when his ship docked in Greenland’s capital, with a Danish court docket approving his detention. Danish authorities are nonetheless deciding whether or not to extradite him.
Last week Watson requested the French president for political asylum. Watson had delivered a letter to President Emmanuel Macron, who had beforehand expressed his help for Watson and underlined the significance of the case for the protection of the surroundings and human rights.
France has but to reply to Watson’s letter and request, which a lawyer for Sea Shepherd France referred to as “largely symbolic and geared toward securing his launch.”
It is unclear when Denmark will determine whether or not or to not ship him to Japan, which doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the Scandinavian nation.
Protesters in France and Belgium took to the streets to demand Watson’s launch. In September, MEPs stood outdoors the Danish embassy in Brussels to protest his detention.
Several celebrities have additionally spoken out in opposition to his trigger, together with Irish actor Pierce Brosnan who posted on Instagram in help of the activist.
Watson, a 73-year-old Canadian-American citizen, is a former head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which he left in 2022.
A former distinguished member of Greenpeace, he left the group in 1977 amid disagreements over his ways, at which level he based Sea Shepherd to take a extra aggressive strategy.
Sea Shepherd has campaigned to guard whales, dolphins and different marine animals. The group is thought for its direct motion ways, together with bodily confrontations on the excessive seas with whaling ships.
Some of his stunts have garnered help from A-list celebrities and have been featured on the fact tv sequence “Whale Wars.”
Protesters say Watson’s arrest is a part of a politically motivated effort to sanitize Japan’s whaling practices, which the Japanese authorities claims are sustainable and targeted on scientific analysis.
