Activists in France have vowed to stay mobilised behind Canadian-American environmental activist Paul Watson after a Greenland court ruled Wednesday to keep him in custody. The marine conservationist will remain detained pending a decision on his extradition to Japan, where he is wanted over a clash with whalers.
A court in Nuuk ruled on Wednesday that Watson must remain in detention in Greenland until 2 October, while Denmark’s justice ministry considers Japan's request for his extradition.
Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark, which doesn't have an extradition treaty with Japan.
Watson, the founder and former head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF), has become notorious for his high-seas confrontations with whaling vessels. He is a well-known figure in France, where he has lived on and off for several years.
He was arrested under an Interpol "red notice" in Nuuk on 21 July when his ship docked to refuel on its way to “intercept” a new Japanese whaling factory vessel in the North Pacific.
Japan issued a warrant for his arrest in 2012 over an encounter with a Japanese whaling research ship two years earlier.
Accused of causing damage to the ship and injuring a Japanese crew member with a stink bomb intended to disrupt the whalers’ activities, he faces up to 15 years in prison.
Greenland court extends detention of anti-whaling activist Watson
'Travesty of justice'
Watson’s lawyers insist he is innocent and say they have video footage proving the crew member was not on deck when the stink bomb was thrown, but the Nuuk court refused to view it at the last custody hearing on 15 August.
The decision to extend his custody for another month therefore came as little surprise.
"It went as we had feared," said Lamya Essemlali, head of Sea Shepherd France.
"The judge refused to look at the evidence we have, which would allow Paul Watson to be cleared. It's surrealist," she told RFI.
"The prosecutor refused to let us broadcast our video, saying it was not up to the court in Greenland to decide on extradition and therefore the evidence was not useful. But it is up to the Greenland court to decide on maintaining Paul Watson in custody.
"It's a travesty of justice, they want Paul Watson to be guilty and don't want to see the evidence."
Wednesday’s custody hearings related only to Watson’s detention, not the question of his guilt nor the extradition request, which will be ruled on independently.
The judge therefore argued that the question of extradition belongs to the Ministry of Justice and that his role was not to study the evidence.
"But custody is based on guilt and we're capable of showing he's innocent. It's nonsense," Essemlali insisted.
Anti-whaling activist Watson says Greenland arrest 'political'
French protests
Watson has garnered considerable support in France since moving here in 2015.
President Emmanuel Macron’s office has called for Watson’s release and the outgoing Secretary of State for the Sea, Hervé Berville, has been pulling out the diplomatic stops with his Danish counterpart.
A petition has gathered signatures from more than 190,000 people, including animal rights activist and former actress Brigitte Bardot.
Rallies in support of Watson have been held in the cities of Strasbourg, Caen and Toulouse in recent weeks and several hundred people gathered in Paris on Wednesday.
"I’m very sensitive to what’s happening to Paul Watson in defending the environment, ocean and whales in particular," one protestor told RFI. "We’re imprisoning someone who’s never done anything bad in fact."
A former Sea Shepherd crew member said that given the international moratorium on whaling, Watson was just doing his duty.
"For 50 years he’s been at sea just to make sure the law is respected," he commented.
For Michel Blazy, head of Sea Shepherd's Paris branch, "this is a highly political trial" and the charges exaggerated and unjustified.
At the time of Watson’s arrest, Essemlali told RFI that "Japan was in a logic of revenge since they consider he humiliated them".
"The arrest warrant shouldn’t even exist," she argued. "He’s accused of throwing butyric acid – it’s rancid butter, less acidic than orange juice. When you dig into the accusations, it’s completely crazy."
French icon Bardot lashes out at Japan over arrest of anti-whaling activist Paul Watson
Keeping up the pressure
Watson's lawyers say they will appeal the decision to extend his custody, but Essemlali says they have little hope anything will come of it.
"We've understood that Greenland will not take the risk of releasing Paul. Japan is applying a lot of pressure to obtain his extradition and the Greenland judge clearly does not want to be the one that releases him and risks angering Japan."
She insists there is not much more to be done for the moment other than "claim Paul's innocence, sign petitions and demand justice, keep the case in the spotlight".
William Bourdon, a member of Watson’s legal team, said "it would be a stain in Denmark’s history" to extradite him and expressed concern about the "criminalisation of citizen militants who stand against the impunity of those committing crimes against the environment".
If someone with Watson's notoriety and support could be the victim of "such a travesty of justice", Essemlali said, it was "terrifying for all the whistleblowers and activists who are not as well known as he is".
"We can assume they will have no chance faced with such a system."
