Peaceful citizens rally in support of NGO 'Sea Shepherd' founder Paul Watson to demand his immediate release in front of the Embassy of Denmark in Brussels, Belgium, 02 August 2024. Captain Paul Watson was arrested by Danish police on 21 July 2024 in Greenland, while he was making a stopover with his boat to refuel. Paul Watson and his crew were heading to the North Pacific to stop the Japanese ship 'Kangei Maru' from killing whales. Paul Watson is now in detention and risks being extradited to Japan, since it is this country which in 2012 issued an arrest warrant against him for 'conspiracy to board'. EPA-EFE/OLIVIER MATTHYS US-Canadian Watson, 73, founder of the Sea Shepherd conservationist group, was stopped by police when his ship docked at the port of Nuuk in Greenland on July 21.
He has since been detained in Greenland, a Danish autonomous region, while Denmark decides whether to extradite him to Japan.
Japan issued an international warrant for his arrest more than a decade ago, seeking him 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's detention was earlier this month prolonged until Oct. 23.
Watson, who denies all charges against him, could face up to 15 years in prison if he is extradited to Japan and convicted there, his lawyers have said.
(Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, editing by Alexandra Hudson)