December 2nd Paul Watsonfounder of Sea Shepherdhe will be 74 years old. He will celebrate them, for the fourth consecutive month, in a cell in the Nuuk penitentiary, in Greenland. A court in the autonomous Danish territory has in fact extended his detention for the fifth time, awaiting a decision on his possible extradition to Japan. A decision that seems to never arrive, while his lawyers continue to fight for his release.
“We’re disappointed, but I have to say we’re not entirely surprised given the previous hearings,” Watson’s lawyer said. Julie Stage. “We do not believe that detention is proportionate, even if the man were guilty of the alleged crimes.” And in the meantime, have filed a new appeal against this umpteenth extensionthis time in the Supreme Court of Greenland.
Watson was arrested last July, in the capital of Greenland, based on a 2012 Japanese arrest warrant. He is accused of damaging a whaler and injuring a whaler during an anti-whaling protest in Antarctica in 2010.
An endless legal battle
Since then, Watson has been trapped in judicial limbo. The Danish Ministry of Justice has not yet made a decision on the extradition request, while the prosecutor Mariam Khalil stated that if extradition was not approved, Mr. Watson would be released “as soon as possible”. Words that now sound like a mockery for the activist, considering the continuous postponements.
“The more time passes, the more the sense of injustice increases,” he declared Lamya Essemlaliresponsible for Sea Shepherd France. “In 10 days, four months will have passed since his prison sentence, which is the maximum sentence he would have faced if he had been convicted.”
The risk of an unfair trial in Japan
If Denmark were to grant the extradition request, Watson would risk an unfair trial in Japan.
Watson’s supporters they fear that Japan wants revenge for its actions against whaling and that an extradition to the country would mean spending the rest of his life behind bars.
Watson’s health worsens
Meanwhile, Watson’s health worsens. “The last few months have certainly been very heartbreaking,” he said Haans Siverdirector of Captain Paul Watson Foundation. “He is 72 years old and is missing out on raising his children, their birthdays and spending time with his wife. They reduced his visitation rights and his telephone rightsso it’s been really hard on his mental health, for sure.”
A life dedicated to the defense of the oceans
Paul Watson is an iconic figure of the environmental movement. Co-founder of Greenpeace and founder of Sea Shepherd, he is known for his radical tactics in the fight against whaling and illegal fishing. His actions, often bordering on legality, have attracted criticism and admiration, but no one can deny his impact in defending the oceans.
An appeal for freedom
As Watson awaits his fate in a cell in Greenland, the international call for his release grows. Numerous personalities, including the well-known British environmentalist Jane Goodallthey asked the French president Emmanuel Macron to grant him political asylum. Watson, who has lived in France since 2023, applied for French citizenship last month.
