A Greenland court on Thursday ordered US-Canadian anti-whaling activist Paul Watson to be kept in custody until September 5 pending a decision on his possible extradition to Japan.
He was arrested and detained in Nuuk, the capital of the autonomous Danish territory, in July.
The district court there ruled that Watson had to remain in custody “to ensure his presence in connection with a decision on the issue of extradition”, Greenland Police said in a statement.
His defence team had sought his immediate release and the police statement said Watson had immediately appealed the decision.
As he was led away by police in handcuffs, the 73-year-old campaigner told AFP that his detention “puts more pressure on Japan for their illegal whaling activities”.
Watson, who featured in the reality TV series “Whale Wars”, founded Sea Shepherd and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF), is known for radical tactics including confrontations with whaling ships at sea.
He was arrested in Nuuk on the basis of a 2012 Interpol “Red Notice” after Japan accused him of causing damage to one of its whaling ships in the Antarctic two years earlier and causing injury.
Lamya Essemlali, president of Sea Shepherd’s French branch who attended the hearing, told AFP Watson’s lawyers had not been allowed to present footage to the court which she said showed “that the Japanese had fabricated evidence”.
Japan has accused Watson of injuring a Japanese crew member with a stink bomb intended to disrupt the whalers’ activities in 2010.
Julie Stage, one of Watson’s lawyers, had told AFP prior to the hearing that they planned to present footage from “Whale Wars” that showed that the crew member concerned “was not even present when the stink bomb was thrown”.
– ‘Plainly wrong’ –
He could only have been injured by tear gas the whaling crew threw at the activists, because the crew was not on deck when the stink bomb was thrown, she added.
“The extradition request concerning Watson is based on facts that are plainly wrong,” Stage said.
Thursday’s hearing was however solely about Watson’s custody detention and not the question of his guilt nor the extradition request.
The decision about Watson’s extradition will be taken independently.
Greenland police must first decide whether there is a basis for extradition, after which the Danish justice ministry will decide whether or not to proceed with an extradition.
No date has been announced for those decisions.
“A review of the formal extradition request and the accompanying documents from the Japanese authorities is currently underway,” Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard told AFP in a statement on Thursday.
“This is a process involving several procedural steps, and I naturally await the legal assessment of the received material.”
Watson was arrested on July 21 when his ship John Paul DeJoria docked in Nuuk to refuel.
The vessel was on its way to “intercept” a new Japanese whaling factory vessel in the North Pacific, according to the CPWF.
In 2010, a Japanese court convicted another Sea Shepherd activist present at the time of the incident involving Watson, Peter Bethune of New Zealand, handing him a two-year suspended sentence.
– ‘Presumption of guilt’ –
Francois Zimeray, another of Watson’s lawyers, said Watson would not get a fair trial in Japan.
“This case has nothing to do with the facts,” he told AFP.
“This is a question of vengeance from the Japanese legal system and Japanese authorities,” he said.
“In Japan, there is a presumption of guilt,” he said, adding: “Prosecutors are proud to announce that they have a 99.6 percent conviction rate.”
Watson’s supporters say he would not survive an extradition.
Essemlali told AFP earlier this week that Japan would not be lenient, and given his age he would likely spend the rest of his life incarcerated.
“If he is extradited to Japan, he won’t get out alive”, she said.
Watson’s arrest has sparked a series of protests calling for his release.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s office has asked Denmark not to extradite the activist, who has lived in France for the past year.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has yet to comment on the case.
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