It was a politically motivated tip-off from the Faroe Islands that led to the arrest of anti-whaling activist Paul Watson by Danish police in Greenland on 21 July, according to the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF).
Local authorities in the whaling archipelago alerted Denmark’s Justice Ministry and Greenlandic authorities to the arrival in Greenland of Watson’s flagship the John Paul Dejoria to refuel and pushed for his detention, claims the CPWF. It says that the Danish Parliament has confirmed this in response to an inquiry.
Watson and his crew of environmental activists had been heading west to the Pacific to confront a Japanese factory whaling ship.
Two months on from his arrest Watson remains in custody awaiting possible extradition to Japan on historic charges, as previously reported on Divernet. His detention relates to an Interpol Red Notice lodged against him for direct-action activism 12 years ago by Japan.
“A busybody from the Faroe Islands police, spurred on by Japan’s desire to nab Paul… made a concerted effort to tip off the Danish Ministry of Justice after tracking the ship since its departure from the UK, causing Danish police to make local inquiries, confirm the arrival of the vessel and allowing time for a SWAT team to orchestrate an ambush worthy of an international fugitive,” was how Locky MacLean, CPWF’s head of ship operations, described Watson's arrest.
Annual slaughter
The Faroes, a self-governing archipelago of Denmark, are best known to divers for their controversial annual slaughter of long-finned pilot whales and Atlantic white-sided dolphins, known as the Grindadráp.
The CPWF claims that the Faroes’ involvment sheds light on Denmark’s readiness to comply with Japan’s international arrest warrant and what it calls the “heavy-handed nature” of Watson’s arrest, and believes the incident will “only intensify the global spotlight on the atrocities occurring in the Faroe Islands”.
“The killing of small cetaceans, and their harassment by boat, is illegal in Denmark, the European Union and many other countries around the world, and that is why the Faroese Grindadráp draws global condemnation from politicians, conservationists, the media and the general public,” says the foundation’s CEO Omar Todd.
CPWF chief operating officer Rob Read says that Watson has launched many campaigns against what is usually known as the Grind since the early 1980s, and had been “a thorn in the side” of the Faroe Islands.
CPWF UK is in the ninth consecutive year of its anti-Grind Operation Bloody Fjords, and last year Watson had again sailed the John Paul Dejoria into Faroese waters to oppose the hunts.
The organisation is calling on Denmark to release him immediately and reject Japan’s extradition request, with more than 82,000 people so far signing its petition.
Also on Divernet: ‘Vengeful’ Japan wants Watson on 2010 stink-bomb charges, Paul Watson jailed as Japanese kill fin whale, Paul Watson cleared in Costa Rica, ‘We didn’t know!’ Dolphin slaughter ignorance revealed
