A Greenland court on Thursday ordered that U.S.-Canadian anti-whaling activist Paul Watson remain in custody until September 5, pending a decision on his possible extradition to Japan.
In July he was arrested and held in Nuuk, the capital of the autonomous Danish region.
The district court ruled that Watson should remain in custody “to ensure his presence in connection with a decision on the issue of extradition,” Greenland police said in a statement.
His defense team had called for his immediate release and the police statement said Watson had immediately appealed the decision.
As he was led away in handcuffs by police, the 73-year-old campaigner told AFP his detention “puts more pressure on Japan because of their illegal whaling activities”.
Watson, who starred in the reality series “Whale Wars,” founded Sea Shepherd and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF) and is known for his radical tactics, including confrontations with whaling ships at sea.
He was arrested in Nuuk on a 2012 Interpol Red Notice after Japan accused him of damaging and injuring one of its whaling ships in Antarctic waters two years earlier.
Lamya Essemlali, president of the French branch of Sea Shepherd who attended the hearing, told AFP that Watson’s lawyers were not allowed to present footage to the court, which she said showed “the Japanese had fabricated evidence”.
Japan accuses Watson of injuring a Japanese crew member with a stink bomb in 2010. The bomb was intended to disrupt the whaling operations.
Julie Stage, one of Watson’s lawyers, had told AFP before the hearing that they planned to present footage from “Whale Wars” which showed that the crew member in question “wasn’t even there when the stink bomb was thrown.”
– ‘Completely wrong’ –
He could only have been injured by the tear gas thrown at the activists by the whaling ship’s crew, as the crew was not on deck when the stink bomb was thrown, she added.
“The extradition request regarding Watson is based on facts that are simply incorrect,” Stage said.
However, Thursday’s hearing focused solely on Watson’s pre-trial detention and not on whether he is guilty or the extradition request.
The decision on Watson’s extradition will be made independently.
The Greenland police must first decide whether there is a basis for extradition. After that, the Danish Ministry of Justice will decide whether or not to proceed with extradition.
No date has yet been announced for these decisions.
“An assessment of the formal extradition request and 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 with several procedural steps and I will of course await the legal assessment of the material received.”
Watson was arrested on July 21 when his ship, the John Paul DeJoria, docked in Nuuk to refuel.
According to the CPWF, the ship was on its way to “intercept” a new Japanese whaling factory ship in the North Pacific.
In 2010, a Japanese court sentenced another Sea Shepherd activist present at the incident with Watson, Peter Bethune of New Zealand, to a two-year suspended prison sentence.
– ‘Presumption of guilt’ –
Francois Zimeray, another lawyer for Watson, 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 matter of revenge by the Japanese justice system and the Japanese authorities,” he said.
“In Japan, there is a presumption of guilt,” he said, adding: “Prosecutors are proud to report that they have a 99.6 percent conviction rate.”
Watson’s supporters say he would not survive extradition.
Essemlali told AFP earlier this week that Japan would not be lenient and that given his age he would likely spend the rest of his life in prison.
“If he is extradited to Japan, he will not come out alive,” she said.
Watson’s arrest sparked a series of protests calling for his release.
The office of French President Emmanuel Macron has asked Denmark not to extradite the activist, who has been living in France for the past year.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has not yet commented on the matter.
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