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Japan Forward
7 days ago
- Politics
- Japan Forward
Interpol Giving Eco-Terrorist Paul Watson a Free Pass
このページを 日本語 で読む Headquartered in France, the International Criminal Police Organization, or Interpol, recently lifted its international arrest warrant for Paul Watson. He is the founder of the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd. Sea Shepherd is a lawless group that has repeatedly engaged in dangerous acts of obstruction, such as ramming small boats into whaling ships from Japan and other countries. Watson is the man directing these operations. Therefore, the Japan Coast Guard had issued an arrest warrant for Watson on suspicion of assault and other offenses. That in turn led to Watson being placed on Interpol's Red Notice international wanted list. Interpol's scrapping of the warrant leaves a dangerous activist free to do as he pleases and is also extremely unacceptable. The Red Notice extradition request should be reissued immediately. Tokyo must also strongly protest to Interpol and demand that it act. Meanwhile, all possible measures must be taken to detain the suspect. Regarding its lifting of the arrest warrant, Interpol offered the following explanation: "This decision was not based on a judgment on the facts in the case, but on the new fact that Denmark had refused to extradite him to Japan." Such an explanation is bizarre. What matters here are the "facts in the case." Watson was allegedly intimately involved in the 2010 incident where Sea Shepherd members attacked a Japanese research whaling vessel operating in the Antarctic Ocean. That incident resulted in multiple injuries. It is only right that Watson should be brought to justice. A Sea Shepherd vessel rams a Japanese scientific whaling ship in the icy Antarctic ocean. (© ICR) Watson was arrested by local police in July of 2024. At the time, the "eco-pirate" had stopped in the Danish-administered territory of Greenland en route to disrupt a Japanese whaling fleet in the North Pacific. Japan thereafter requested his immediate extradition. However, French President Emmanuel Macron and leaders in other countries opposed to commercial whaling opposed the request. Thereafter, Denmark released Watson in December. Watson has been exiled in France. After his international arrest warrant was lifted, he posted on social media, "Finally, I'm free." There is grave concern that he will soon resume his illegal activities. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a press conference that Interpol's action was "extremely regrettable." There are also other indications that the Japanese authorities intend to continue their investigation. Japan Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Yoshio Seguchi told the press, "There is no change to our policy of requesting the relevant countries to extradite him." As with Interpol, the Danish and French governments' attitudes have definitely been problematic. Their choice to give a free pass to a lawless suspect rather than crack down on dangerous international crimes and maintain friendly relations with Japan calls into question their credentials as advanced democratic nations. We urge them to return to upholding law and justice. Author: Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun このページを 日本語 で読む
The Star
24-07-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Japan vows to pursue anti-whaling activist Watson despite Interpol decision
Interpol has lifted its red wanted notice against anti-whaling activist Paul Watson. - AFP TOKYO: Japan reacted angrily on Wednesday (July 23) after Interpol lifted its red wanted notice against anti-whaling activist Paul Watson, insisting its own arrest warrant remains valid. Interpol had issued the notice against Watson, known for radical tactics including confrontations with whaling ships at sea, at the request of Japan. But "Interpol has officially and permanently dismissed the Red Notice against me", Watson said in a statement Tuesday, calling the move an end to the Japanese whalers' "vendetta". Interpol confirmed to AFP that it had deleted the red notice, which asks police worldwide to arrest a suspect. Tokyo called the decision "extremely regrettable", with top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi saying it would not deter Japan. "The removal doesn't change the fact that Japan's arrest warrant for him is valid," Hayashi told a regular news briefing. "Our position remains unchanged that we will continue to call on the parties involved for his extradition," he said. Watson, a 74-year-old Canadian-American, was arrested and detained in Greenland in July, 2024 on a 2012 Japanese warrant, which accused him of causing damage to a whaling ship and injuring a whaler. He was released in December after Denmark refused the Japanese extradition request over the 2010 clash with whalers. On Dec 20, Watson returned to France, where his children attend school, following a high-profile campaign in his support. - AFP
South China Morning Post
24-07-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Japan sees red as Interpol drops arrest request for whale activist Paul Watson
Interpol 's decision to drop a decade-old red notice against Paul Watson, the outspoken founder of marine conservation group Sea Shepherd, has sparked outrage in Japan , with critics accusing the international police agency of bowing to Western bias and undermining justice for alleged attacks on Japanese whalers. Interpol announced on Tuesday that it had removed the red notice – a non-binding request for the arrest and extradition of a wanted individual – after a review by its independent Commission for the Control of Files, which found the request raised concerns about political motivations and potential rights violations. Watson, 74, had been wanted since 2012 after Japan requested the red notice over clashes in Antarctic waters two years earlier, when his group hurled rancid butter at whaling vessels and allegedly interfered with harpoon operations. The Canadian-American was initially taken into custody in the German city of Frankfurt that same year but was later released, despite the red notice being in effect. Hopes of a successful extradition were revived when Watson was arrested in Greenland last July. Japanese officials were optimistic that Denmark – which governs Greenland and also oversees pro-whaling territories like the Faroe Islands – might be more amenable to handing him over. People demonstrate in Paris last October to support Paul Watson, who was asking France's president for political asylum. Photo: AP But those hopes were dashed in December when the Danish government announced it would not comply with Japan's request and released Watson from custody, citing the lack of assurances that his time in detention in Greenland would count towards any future sentence.
Qatar Tribune
23-07-2025
- Politics
- Qatar Tribune
Interpol deletes wanted notice for anti-whaler Paul Watson
DPA Paris Well-known anti-whaling activist Paul Watson is no longer wanted by the international police organization Interpol, after the 'red notice' against him was deleted. The notice issued at Japan's request has been deleted, according to a spokesman for the France-based organisation on Wednesday. An internal control commission made the decision in light of Denmark's decision not to extradite Watson to Japan. A red notice allows a country to request that a person be located and provisionally arrested. It is not the same as an international arrest warrant. Interpol coordinates cross-border cooperations, but each country decides for itself how to handle a case. According to Watson's lawyer, William Julié, the commission considered the manhunt for the conservationist to be disproportionate, partly because the case was so old and no serious crime had been alleged. Following an incident with a whaling ship in the Antarctic in 2010, the Japanese authorities had Watson searched and accused him of damaging the ship and preventing the whalers from doing their work. Watson denied any wrongdoing. In July last year, the Canadian-American citizen was detained in Greenland. However, Denmark eventually released him and decided not to extradite him to Japan.
Washington Post
23-07-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Interpol takes U.S.-Canadian anti-whaling ‘eco-pirate' off most-wanted list
Interpol has removed an international alert for a U.S.-Canadian anti-whaling activist sought by Japan for more than a decade. In an emailed statement Wednesday, Interpol confirmed the lifting of the 'red notice' against Paul Watson, who is 74 and a former head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Watson, who has been an active and outspoken anti-whaling activist for decades, was a founder of Greenpeace but was expelled eight years later for what it called his violent actions (Watson said he took a club from a man attacking baby seals). He went on to establish the organization that would become the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which, in the 1970s and 1980s, used tactics included sinking several ships.
