On Sunday, July 21, 2024, Paul Watson’s ship, the John Paul DeJoria, docked in Nuuk, Greenland, to refuel before heading to the North Pacific. As soon as the engines were switched off, 14 police officers, who had just arrived from Denmark to intercept it, boarded the ship. They handcuffed Watson and took him into custody.
The coordinator of the Green Party, Juantxo López de Uralde, together with Representative Ione Belarra in Congress, registered a series of questions urging the government of Spain to mediate for the release of environmental activist Paul Watson.
No to extradition, yes to Watson asylum
On Wednesday, November 13, the Sermersooq court in Greenland, an autonomous region of Denmark, decided to extend Watson’s preventive detention until December 4, justifying the measure given the flight risk of the 73-year-old activist. founder of the environmental organization Greenpeacewaiting for Danish authorities to decide on Japan’s extradition request.
The activist, defender of whales, was arrested in Greenland on July 21. Are arrest took place in the port of Nuukwhen his ship stopped for refueling and continued into the North Pacific, aiming to intercept a Japanese whaling ship, Watson’s foundation said. The environmental activist’s arrest took place following an international notice from Interpol at the request of Japan.
The detention and arrest of Paul Watson has sparked strong outrage at the global level. Only Iceland, Norway and Japan (a country that calls for the arrest of Watson), Despite the international moratorium, they continue to practice commercial whaling.
The environmental party has led calls for his release in Spain. Specifically, the coordinator, Juantxo López de Uralde, sent a letter to the former in August The Danish minister asks him not to approve Watson’s extradition. And again in September they led initiatives in Congress and the European Parliament, asking the Government of Spain and the European Commission to mediate in favor of the release of the ecologist.
Precisely, and in response to the question posed in the European Parliament, the European Commission emphasizes that “the right to protest at sea is considered an internationally lawful use of the sea and therefore a exercise of the flag state’s freedom of navigation under the Law of the Sea”. Also remember that “the EU and its Member States take a strong stand against whaling and defend the International Whaling Commission’s (IWC) moratorium on commercial whaling.”
For this reason, and following the new extension of Watson’s prison sentence, Alianza Verde asks the government, as a member of the EU and as a signatory of the International Whaling Commission, to take a strong public position on defense of the freedom to protest peacefully against whaling.
And it expressly calls on you to support the release of Paul Watson, to promote mediation for the Danish authorities together with the European Commission, and to do so together with the political asylum application that Watson applied for to the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron.
“Spain is, currently and in the context of the reaction we are in both in Europe and globally after Trump’s recent victory, one of the few countries where we still have a progressive government. But It is not enough to just be it in words, you must also put it into practice.. We do not understand why this government is profiling itself when it is about siding with those who defend the planet,” said López de Uralde.
Since it became known about the arrest of Paul Watson, the world cries out for his freedom. The possibility of granting him political asylum in France is now being studied, but this will require international support and Spain should join this request.