The Sea Shepherd founder has been detained in Denmark since his arrest in Greenland in July.
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Paul Watson, the founder of marine conservation group Sea Shepherd, faces extradition from Denmark to Japan on suspicion of attacking a whaling ship 12 years ago, where he could face up to 15 years in prison. .
Sea Shepherd France told reporters it had delivered a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron from a notorious anti-whaling activist.
Lamia Essemulari, the group’s French representative, said the 73-year-old Canadian-American “wrote a letter in prison, gave it to me, and passed it to the president through his advisers.”
Watson is known for leading a decades-long campaign of direct action against Japanese whaling, which often included devastating attacks on whaling ships.
The French resident was arrested in Greenland in July while in port for fuel while on a mission to intercept Japanese whalers in the North Pacific.
Danish authorities are currently considering Japan’s extradition request. If Watson is convicted in Japan, he faces up to 15 years in prison.
The French president’s team has yet to respond to Watson’s letter, but when the situation erupted in July, the Elysée Palace said Macron was “closely monitoring the situation” and “intervening with the Danish authorities.” Ta.
Japan’s red notice and two dead dolphins
The arrest was based on a red notice first issued by Interpol on behalf of Japan in 2012. That same year, Watson was accused of damaging a whaling ship and injuring its crew with a stink bomb.
In September, representatives of the European Parliament demanded his release at a protest outside the Danish embassy in Brussels.
Critics of Watson’s arrest in Greenland say it is part of a politically motivated effort to clean up Japan’s whaling practices, which are internationally banned under the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling. I am doing it.
Japan insists that whaling is part of its cultural heritage and that its plans to hunt hundreds of whales a year are for purely scientific purposes.
Until now, international authorities have paid little attention to Watson’s activities. But Sea Shepherd France’s lawyer, Jean Tamale, said “the situation has clearly changed”.
Tammaret stressed that the call for political asylum is not just a petition to prevent Watson’s extradition, but is part of a strategy to secure his release.
Sea Shepherd has made headlines in the past for what many consider to be more controversial acts. In 2020, the organization brought two dead dolphins to Paris to draw attention to the accidental killing of around 11,300 dolphins in the Bay of Biscay the previous winter.
supporters and skeptics
Mr Watson has garnered significant support in France since moving there in 2015, with rallies calling for his release being held across France in early September.
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French actress-turned-animal-rights activist Brigitte Bardot has also expressed support for Watson, and Hollywood’s Pierce Brosnan has also shared Watson’s signature quote in an Instagram post: “If the ocean dies, so do we.” was quoted.
Mr. Watson’s colleagues and entourage also spoke out about what they considered to be false claims being spread about his beliefs.
In a statement posted on Sea Shepherd’s website, Essemulari said that “Paul was not allowed to attend the Place de la République in Paris because he was a ‘eugenicist,’ a ‘misogynist,’ or a ‘Malthusian.’ “some of them have declined our invitation to the September 4th rally,” he wrote. .
He added that they also “ignored grotesque accusations by anonymous individuals and groups such as ‘Rage’ and ‘Antifa’ who did not know Paul.”
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Additional sources • Associated Press
