反捕鯨団体創設者、日本の身柄引き渡し要求は「政治的」

【コペンハーゲンＡＦＰ＝時事】反捕鯨団体「シー・シェパード」は８日、創設者のポール・ワトソン容疑者（７３）が、デンマーク自治領グリーンランドでの逮捕および日本による身柄引き渡し要求を政治的なものだと考えていると発表した。（写真は反捕鯨団体「シー・シェパード」創設者ポール・ワトソン容疑者）
　グリーンランドの政庁所在地ヌークの刑事施設で勾留されているワトソン容疑者に「ほぼ毎日」面会しているシー・シェパードのラミヤ・エセムラリ仏支部長はＡＦＰに対し、ワトソン容疑者は「状況を非常に明確に把握している」「日本が彼に政治的影響力を全力で行使していること、自身が政治的象徴であることを彼は認識している」と語った。
　ヌークの裁判所は１５日にワトソン容疑者の勾留について判断する予定。日本への身柄引き渡しについては、デンマーク政府が決定を下す。
　エセムラリ氏は「たとえ彼が有罪だとしても、これほど軽微な罪で身柄の引き渡しが行われたことが一度もないのは明らかだ」「彼は後悔していない。自分が正しいことをしたと知っている」と述べ、デンマークがワトソン容疑者を逮捕し、身柄の引き渡しを検討するとは「想像もしていなかった」と付け加えた。
　さらに、ワトソン容疑者が日本の刑務所へ入ることになれば「特にひどい扱いを受けるだろう」と述べた。
　ワトソン容疑者の支援活動を行っているフランス映画界のレジェンドで、俳優から動物愛護活動家に転身したブリジット・バルドーさんは８日、仏ニュース専門局ＬＣＩの電話インタビューに応じ、ワトソン氏の釈放を求めた。
　バルドーさんは「彼は傑出した人物だ。日本人や日本の銛（もり）からクジラを守ることに生涯を費やしてきた英雄だ」「日本に引き渡されたら、彼は死んでしまうだろう」と語った。
　今週末には、フランス全土でワトソン容疑者の支持者らによる抗議デモが計画されている。１２日にも、デンマークの首都コペンハーゲンで別のデモが予定されている。
　ワトソン容疑者は、日本の要請を受けて国際刑事警察機構（インターポール）が２０１２年に発行した「赤手配書」に基づき先月、グリーンランドで逮捕された。２０１０年に南極海で日本の捕鯨船に対する妨害行為を指示したとして、海上保安庁が傷害と威力業務妨害の疑いで逮捕状を取得、国際手配していた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/08/09-17:02）

US-Canadian environmental activist Paul Watson considers his detention in Greenland and Japan's extradition request to be political, his campaigning group Sea Shepherd said Thursday.
Lamya Essemlali, president of the organisation, who visits him almost every day in jail in Nuuk, capital of the autonomous Danish territory, told AFP he was very clear about the situation.
He is aware that Japan is putting all its political weight behind him, that he is a political symbol, Essemlali said.
Watson, who featured in the reality TV series Whale Wars, founded Sea Shepherd and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF), and is known for radical tactics including confrontations with whaling ships at sea.
The 73-year-old campaigner was arrested on July 21 when the ship John Paul DeJoria docked in Nuuk to refuel.
The vessel was on its way to intercept a new Japanese whaling factory vessel in the North Pacific, according to the CPWF.
Watson was arrested on the basis of a 2012 Interpol Red Notice after Japan accused him of causing damage to one of its whaling ships in the Antarctic two years earlier and causing injury.
Japan asked Danish authorities to extradite him at the end of July.
The Nuuk court is due to rule on his detention on August 15. A decision on the extradition is up to the Danish government.
Watson's supporters are due to demonstrate this weekend across France, before another protest in the Danish capital Copenhagen on Monday, August 12.
- 'No regrets' -
Even if he were guilty, it is clear that there has never been an extradition on the basis of such minor offences, Essemlali said.
He has no regrets, he knows that what he did was right, Essemlali said, adding she had never imagined that Denmark would arrest Watson and consider an extradition.
Watson would be particularly poorly treated in a Japanese prison, she said.
In Japan, Watson faces a charge of causing injury, which can carry up to 15 years in prison or a fine of up to 500,000 yen ($3,300).
He also faces a charge of forcible obstruction of business, which carries a penalty of up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 500,000 yen.
Only Japan, Iceland and Norway allow commercial whaling.
His arrest has sparked a series of protests calling for his release.
French film legend turned animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot has campaigned for Watson in the past, and on Thursday she called for his release in a telephone interview with French television channel LCI.
He's an extraordinary character, a hero who has spent his life defending whales against the Japanese, against the Japanese harpoons, she said.
If he is extradited to Japan, he's dead.
French President Emmanuel Macron's office has asked Denmark not to extradite Watson, who has lived in France for the past year.