反捕鯨団体創設者、勾留は活動の妨げにならない　ＡＦＰインタビュー

【ヌークＡＦＰ＝時事】デンマーク自治領グリーンランドの政庁所在地ヌークで７月に拘束され、日本が身柄引き渡しを求めている反捕鯨団体「シー・シェパード」の創設者、ポール・ワトソン容疑者（７３）がこのほどＡＦＰの取材に応じ、勾留はクジラを救う活動の妨げにはならないと語った。（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）
　ワトソン容疑者はヌーク拘置所の面会室でＡＦＰのインタビューに応じた。「彼らが（勾留によって）私たちの抵抗を阻止できると考えているのであれば、私は船を変えただけだ。私の今の船は、ヌーク拘置所だ」とほほ笑んだ。海が見える近代的で灰色の拘置所の独房の窓からは、クジラや氷山が通り過ぎるのも見えるという。
　リアリティーＴＶシリーズ「Ｗｈａｌｅ　Ｗａｒｓ（ホエール・ウォーズ）」への出演でも知られるワトソン容疑者は、海上での捕鯨船団との衝突など、過激な戦術で知られる。
　今年７月、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、海上保安庁は傷害と威力業務妨害の疑いで逮捕状を取得し、国際手配。日本は、２０１０年の衝突でワトソン容疑者が捕鯨活動を妨害するために悪臭弾を使用し、日本人乗組員を負傷させたと非難している。
　逃亡の恐れがあるとして、デンマーク政府が身柄引き渡し要請に応じるか判断を下すまで勾留が続いている。ワトソン容疑者は、２０１２年にコスタリカからの要請によりドイツで逮捕された際は、毎日警察に出頭することを条件に保釈されたが、身柄の引き渡しを避けるために出国した前歴がある。
　今回の件は、日本による自分への報復だとワトソン容疑者と弁護団と主張している。
　「日本の捕鯨の邪魔をすればこうなるという見せしめにしたいのだ」と、厚手の灰色のセーターを着たワトソン容疑者は語った。
　ヌークの裁判所は４日、勾留延長に関する審理を開く。
　「弁護士からは、延長されるだろうと聞かされている」とワトソン容疑者は明かした。
　■日本の司法制度は「中世」
　「デンマークは非常に難しい立場にある」とワトソン容疑者は言う。
　「彼ら（デンマーク）は私の身柄を引き渡せない。なぜなら人権擁護を声高に訴えているからだ」とする一方、日本の司法制度は「中世」だと批判した。
　「私は何もしていない。たとえ何かしたとしても、デンマークでは１５００デンマーク・クローネ（約３万３０００円）の罰金刑で、実刑判決にすらならないだろう。それなのに日本は禁錮１５年を求めている」
　捕鯨を今も認めている日本とアイスランド、ノルウェーが捕鯨を再開した場合に備えて、南北両半球に１隻ずつ船を配備し、いつでも出動できるようにしている。
　ワトソン容疑者は、自分たちは「抗議団体ではなく」海を守るための「執行団体だ」と主張。時に使われることもある「エコテロリスト」という呼び方を否定した。
　「私が行っているのは、アグレッシブだが非暴力的な妨害だ」と言う。
　「アグレッシブであることと非暴力的であることには何の矛盾もない。つまり、クジラを殺そうとしている人物から刃物を取り上げようとはするが、その人物を傷つけるつもりはないということだ」
　「私がこの一線を越えることはない。人を傷つけたことは一度もない」と強調した。
　「１９７４年に私は捕鯨の根絶を目標に掲げた」とし、「死ぬ前に実現したい」と話した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/09/03-17:19）

Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson's detention in a Greenland prison pending his possible extradition to Japan has not prevented him from continuing his fight to save the animals, he told AFP in an interview.
If they think it prevents our opposition, I've just changed ship. My ship right now is Prison Nuuk, the 73-year-old US-Canadian campaigner said, a mischievous smile crossing his face as he met with AFP in the visitors' room of Greenland's Nuuk Prison.
Watson, who featured in the reality TV series Whale Wars and founded Sea Shepherd as well as the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF), is known for radical tactics including confrontations with whaling ships at sea.
He was arrested in July in Nuuk, the capital of the autonomous Danish territory of Greenland, on the basis of a 2012 arrest warrant issued by Japan, which accuses him of causing damage to one of its whaling ships in 2010 in the Antarctic.
It says he also injured a Japanese crew member with a stink bomb intended to disrupt the whalers' activities, and has asked Denmark to extradite him to face trial.
Watson is being held behind bars pending the government's decision, to make sure he does not flee.
In 2012, he was arrested in Germany at the request of Costa Rica over another incident. He was released on bail and required to report to police daily, but he left the country to avoid extradition.
This time, Watson and his legal team insist Tokyo has a vendetta against him.
They want to set an example that you don't mess around with their whaling, said Watson, clad in a thick grey sweater.
The Nuuk court is to decide on September 4 whether to prolong his custody.
The lawyers tell me they're going to extend my detention.
- 'Almost like on deck' -
From his cell in the modern grey prison building overlooking the sea, Watson can watch as whales and icebergs pass by his window.
It's almost like I'm on the deck of my ship, he said, calling it the best prison I've ever been in.
He said he does not mind his detention so much, except that he misses his children, aged three and seven.
He spends his time watching detective shows and reading a lot -- he has just devoured an anthology on popes -- but mostly he has been writing, he said.
He gives his texts to Lamya Essemlali, the head of Sea Shepherd France, who has visited him almost daily since his arrest.
More than 100,000 people across the world have signed a petition calling for his release.
His co-detainees in the prison are all big fans, he said, despite his opposition to Greenland's traditional seal hunt.
I signed autographs when I arrived.
He also receives a lot of letters of support, many of them from children, because they are extremely passionate about the world.
If we manage to reach children I think things can change.
French President Emmanuel Macron's office has asked Denmark not to extradite the activist, as has Brigitte Bardot, the French screen legend turned animal rights activist.
Watson has lived in France for almost two years.
Denmark is in a very difficult place, he said.
They can't extradite me because first they are vocal proponents of human rights, he added, qualifying the Japanese judicial system as medieval.
I didn't do anything, and even if I did the sentence would be (a fine of) 1,500 kroner ($223) in Denmark -- not even a prison sentence -- while Japan wants to sentence me to 15 years.
- Ships at the ready -
Watson has one ship stationed in each hemisphere, ready to jump into action if one of the countries that still allows whaling -- Iceland, Japan and Norway -- were to resume the hunt.
In 1974, my objective was to eradicate whaling, and I hope to do that before I die.
He insists that he and his co-activists are not a protest organisation.
We're an enforcement organisation ensuring that the seas are protected, he said, rejecting the label of ecoterrorist sometimes used against him.
I do aggressive non-violence interference.
There is no contradiction between aggressive and non-violence -- it means that I will try and get the knife from the person trying to kill a whale, but I won't hurt them.
I don't cross the line, I've never hurt anyone, he said.