Denmark asked by Japan to extradite anti-whaling activist

Watson, the 73-year-old American-Canadian founder of the Sea Shepherd activist organisation, was arrested an international arrest warrant on July 21st in Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, over a 2010 altercation with Japanese whaling ships.

“The Ministry of Justice received a formal extradition request regarding Paul Watson from the Japanese authorities yesterday,” the Danish justice ministry told news agency AFP in an email.

The ministry said it would forward the case to Greenland police, “unless the ministry on the present basis finds grounds to reject the extradition request beforehand”.

If the case is forwarded to Greenland police, they will investigate “whether there is basis for extradition”, including whether it is in accordance with the extradition act applicable to Greenland, the justice ministry said.

However, the ultimate decision on Watson’s extradition will be made by Denmark’s justice ministry, it added.

Watson was arrested after arriving in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, when the ship John Paul DeJoria docked to refuel.

The vessel was on its way to “intercept” Japan’s new whaling factory vessel in the North Pacific, according to the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF).

Japan is one of only three countries in the world to permit commercial whaling, along with Iceland and Norway.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s office has asked Danish authorities not to extradite Watson, who has lived in France for the past year.

A French online petition urging Macron to demand Watson’s liberation has garnered almost 670,000 signatures in eight days.

Sea Shepherd France said Tuesday that it had launched a separate online petition addressed to Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen urging her not to extradite Watson.

That petition had almost 13,000 signatures as of Tuesday evening.

He was the only one of seven smugglers who managed to escape after the Indian Air Force intercepted their returning plane.

The others, five Russians and a Briton, were sentenced in Kolkata to life imprisonment in 2000, but all were eventually released.

India regards the Dane, also known as Kim Davy, as the mastermind of the operation, which saw the delivery of hundreds of assault rifles, pistols, anti-tank grenades, rocket launchers and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

New Delhi has relentlessly pursued attempts to have him stand trial in India, and the affair has been a stumbling block in Danish-Indian relations.

Holck was arrested in Denmark in April 2010 after Danish authorities reached a deal with India over the terms of his extradition, including a promise that he would not be given the death penalty and would serve any sentence in Denmark.

But a Danish district court in 2011 overturned the authorities’ decision, saying he risked mistreatment in India.

An appeals court later upheld the district court’s ruling.

Holck’s lawyer, Jonas Christoffersen, told AFP this week that his client would appeal if the Hillerød district court on Thursday orders him extradited.

“He’s frustrated that the case has dragged on for so long,” Christoffersen said.

“Now he’s hopeful that it will come to a close and that once it has gone through the Danish legal system, it will be clear that he will never be extradited to India.”

“He is going on with his life, but he cannot travel. He has his life in Denmark but it’s a burden on him,” he said. “He’s been called a terrorist without any factual merit for 28 years.”

In his 2008 autobiography titled “They Call Me a Terrorist”, Holck recounts the delivery of the arms during a flight that left from Bulgaria.

Prosecutors are expected to appeal if the court does not order his extradition.

The Hillerød district court’s decision is expected around 1pm.

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Denmark asked by Japan to extradite anti-whaling activist

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