COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A court in Greenland ruled Wednesday that anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson must remain in detention until Oct. 23 to ensure his presence in connection with a decision by Denmark’s justice ministry on extradition. It was unclear when the Danes would decide whether or not to send him to Japan, where he is accused of obstructing a whaling research ship’s work with violent means in 2010.
“They have deliberately thrown such objects, so it is to harm people,” prosecutor Mariam Khalil said in court, according to the Greenland newspaper Sermitsiaq, referring to potassic acid thrown at the Japanese vessel by Watson’s team. Watson, a 73-year-old Canadian-American citizen, is a former head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society whose direct action tactics, including high-seas confrontations with whaling vessels, have drawn support from A-list celebrities and featured in the reality television series “Whale Wars.” on July 21 when his ship docked in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital and a court there approved his detention while Danish authorities looked into his possible extradition to Japan where he faces up to 15 years in prison, according to the Captain Paul Watson Foundation.
Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark which handles police and justice matters. Japan does not have an extradition treaty with the Scandinavian country. Japan’s coast guard sought his arrest over an encounter with a Japanese whaling research ship in 2010 when.
