Anti-whaling activist Watson to remain in Greenland detention

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COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson will remain in detention in Greenland while Denmark decides whether to extradite him to Japan, police in the autonomous Danish territory said on Wednesday.

The 73-year-old U.S.-Canadian, founder of the Sea Shepherd conservationist group and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, was taken into custody by police when his ship docked at the port of Nuuk on July 21.

Watson will remain in detention until Dec. 4, police said in a statement.

“It is unfortunately as expected, but we obviously disagree with the ruling,” said Watson’s lawyer Julie Stage, adding that she and his other lawyers had appealed against the Greenlandic court’s decision.

They are now awaiting a decision on the detention by Denmark’s Supreme Court, she said.Japan issued an international arrest warrant more than a decade ago, seeking Watson on charges of breaking into a Japanese vessel in the Antarctic Ocean in 2010, obstructing its business and causing injury as well as property damage.

Watson, who denies all charges against him, could be facing up to 15 years in prison if he is extradited to Japan and convicted there, his lawyers have said.

Denmark’s ministry of justice on Wednesday referred to a comment it made in October, when it said it had received statements from the director of public prosecutions and Greenlandic Police, which have both investigated Watson’s case.

“The ministry of justice is currently reviewing the extradition request and the two statements, and the ministry will make a decision on the case on that basis,” it said.