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Updated Friday, April 30, 2010 6:32 pm TWN, By Harumi Ozawa, AFP Japan seeks arrest of anti-whaling Sea Shepherd chiefTokyo will seek Interpol's help to arrest Canadian Paul Watson for ordering his crew to harass whaling ships in clashes in which Japanese crew were allegedly injured by rancid butter projectiles, broadcaster NHK reported. Watson, speaking in New York, said "the arrest warrant is just totally political, it's nothing. I'm not concerned, and Interpol is not going to extradite me on a politically motivated charge." "We save whales and we are going to continue to go down to the Southern Ocean," the 59-year-old environmental campaigner and captain of the group's Steve Irwin vessel told reporters in comments broadcast in Japan. The reported arrest warrant and Interpol request, which the Japan Coast Guard declined to confirm, are the latest move in a long-running battle between Japan and the U.S.-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Japan hunts whales by taking advantage of a loophole in an international moratorium that allows the killing of the sea mammals for scientific research and does not hide the fact that the meat is later sold in shops and restaurants. Sea Shepherd has sought to obstruct Japan's whalers for years and this year said they had their most successful season yet by preventing the harpoon ships from killing hundreds of the ocean giants. Japanese authorities say the activists inflicted chemical burns on Japanese crews by throwing bottles of butyric acid, which the Sea Shepherd group describes as rancid butter stink bombs. The group prides itself on what it calls "innovative direct-action tactics", including the use of acoustic weapons and water cannons. Japan's Fisheries Minister Hirotaka Akamatsu said "Japan should take decisive action. We should not leave such cases hanging in the air. Regardless of whether they are pro or anti-whaling, what they did was a crime." Sea Shepherd's futuristic powerboat the Ady Gil, carrying six crew, sank after it was sliced in two in a collision with the whaling fleet's security ship the Shonan Maru II in January. The boat's captain Peter Bethune, 45, subsequently boarded the Shonan Maru II from a jet ski with the stated intent of making a citizen's arrest of its captain for attempted murder and to present him with a bill for the boat. Bethune, a New Zealander, was detained and is now under arrest awaiting trial for trespass, causing injury, vandalism, carrying a knife and obstructing commercial activities. If convicted he faces up to 15 years jail. Watson said on his group's website that neither authorities in Japan, New Zealand nor Australia had questioned the captain of the Shonan Maru II for "deliberately ramming and destroying" the trimaran. "There is no case in recent maritime history where a ship has collided with another vessel on the high seas and the captain of the ship responsible has not even been questioned," Watson wrote. Japan caught only about 500 whales this season in the Antarctic, little more than half its target of more than 900, due to skirmishes with Sea Shepherd. Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here Comments May 2, 2010 ceros88192@ Reply It is the Japanese who should be standing trial for the intentional sinking of the Ady Gill and the taking of Peter Bethune as a prisoner of war. May 6, 2010 moirfamily@ About time. Give him a fair trial then lock him up for a long time. We don't need dangerous pirate wannabes charging around the ocean causing trouble. Put him in a cell with a huge Japanese wrestler who has the same respect for the law he has; that should sort him out based on the principle that what fixes a coward bully type is a bigger one. Anyway, the main thing is he doesn't turn up on the high seas; and I'm sure his village is happy to be deprived of its idiot. May 6, 2010 buttrose@ Eventually, if our natural heritage is to be protected - including whales - it will come to armed conflict. Crews of the whaling ships will have to taken off at gunpoint and their boats sunk. Whaling is a criminal activity and needs to be dealt with appropriately. May 6, 2010 ludahai_twn@ Don't think it will do any good, but these criminals of the high seas need to be stopped. They are against whaling, fine. However, they need to find LEGAL means to achieve their goal, because this isn't it. May 8, 2010 cloggedwithguts@ ludahai_twn@ wrote: Well the Japanese didn't always do things in a LEGAL manner as well. Take the Rape of Nanking, Unit 731, Comfort Women, and other atrocities committed in Asia are just some examples. Don't think it will do any good, but these criminals of the high seas need to be stopped. They are against whaling, fine. However, they need to find LEGAL means to achieve their goal, because this isn't it. It appears that the Japanese haven't changed their menacing ways more than 65 years after their defeat and continue to bully the earth. If they continue to show utter disregard for marine wildlife (and human life in the past), they must anticipate some sort of reaction. May 8, 2010 elumpen@ Would be interested to hear WHY some people here support the prosecution of the Sea Shepherd team. A bunch of nobodies going up against the entire economic and political might of the Japanese government are "bullies"? Wow ... that paints an awfully limp-wristed picture of the Japanese, doesn't it? So why, exactly, do you guys think that Japanese whaling is a Good Idea that should be protected? It contributes nothing whatsoever to the Japanese economy, makes the Japanese nation look like vandals and barbarians, and is in any case an American idea, not a Japanese tradition. Any concrete reasons, people? May 10, 2010 ll@ I am just curious! Japan is a country with high reputation of environmental conservation. To whale seems not go that way. Should be a good reason, right? Would somebody explain more? June 22, 2010 bennettmoor@ The sea shepards are wrong. So are most of you. God put these animals on this planet for us to use. I AM NOT SAYING THERE SHOULDN’T BE LAWS TO PROTECT THE WHALES BUT PEOPLE THAT LIKE TO EAT THEM AND USE THEM FOR WHAT EVER SHOULD BE ABLE TO.IF SOMEONE ATTACKED ME OR PROVOCTED AN ATTACK FROM ME IN THE WOODS DURING A HUNTING TRIP IT WOULD BE BAD. |
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