Paul Watson Won't go to Norway
Haarlem, The Netherlands: On Monday, June 9th at 1:45pm local Dutch time, a cheer erupted in the courtroom as Judge van der Pijl ruled that Captain Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and co-founder Greenpeace, will not go to Norway. It's a victory that he will never be extradited to Norway - even though they tried every possible means to get him," announced Victor Koppe, Watson's legal counsel.
Although the Dutch court accepted the technical ruling of the 120 day sentence, the court showed sympathy by making a surprising move when the judge announced prematurely that they would release Paul Watson on June 20th. "This conviction will be thrown out in appeal," stated Koppe confidently. Watson was cleared of the other 3 charges which were additionally filed at the last minute by the Norwegian government in their voracious attempt to extradite Watson. These three charges all stemmed from the incident in summer of 1994 when the organization's conservation yacht Whales Forever was rammed in international waters by the Norwegian Navy who were guarding the whaling fleet off the coast of Skrova. Norway has been hunting whales in violation of the global ban on commercial whaling, imposed in 1986.
"We are ecstatic. This is a tremendous victory for Sea Shepherd's Paul Watson and environmental activism. It is only indirectly a victory for the whales, however, which Norway and Japan are still slaughtering by the thousands every year. For the whales, it means at least that Paul Watson will continue to be able to lead Sea Shepherd in the ongoing campaign to halt this barbarism before it spreads its stain into the next century," stated Lisa Distefano International Director of Sea Shepherd.
Bob Hunter, a co-founder of Greenpeace along with Watson and acting president of Sea Shepherd in Watson's absence, called the charges "pure politics."
"The Norwegian elections are coming up, and Prime Minister Jagland is an appointee with a shaky political base," Hunter said. "Whaling is an issue that Jagland wants to downplay to the world yet wants to exploit to garner votes in his own country. He needs the support of the coastal districts, the home of the whaling industry."
Distefano confirmed that the Norwegians have good reason to be upset because, "In a way, this has been as successful as any of our high seas campaigns -- we have been able to expose Norway's determination in persecuting Paul for political reasons which has actually succeeded in illuminating to the world their illegal and depraved whaling. We will continue this mission to make the world's oceans safe for all whales being persecuted by any country especially Norway and Japan."