Japan’s coast guard arrested an anti-whaling activist from New Zealand yesterday for illegally boarding a whaling ship last month in the latest incident in the ongoing battle over Japanese whaling.
Peter Bethune, a member of the US-based Sea Shepherd activist group, is accused of jumping aboard the whaling vessel from a Jet Ski on Feb. 15 in Antarctic seas, where Japan was conducting its annual whale hunt.
Boarding a Japanese vessel without legitimate reasons can bring a prison term of up to three years or a fine up to ¥100,000 (US$1,100).
PHOTO: AFP
Sea Shepherd said Bethune jumped aboard the Shonan Maru 2 to make a citizen’s arrest of its captain and hand over a US$3 million bill for the destruction of a high-tech protest ship Bethune captained, the Ady Gil, that sank in January after colliding with the whaling ship. Since his boarding, Bethune has been in custody aboard the ship while it made its three-week voyage back to Japan.
Dozens of Japanese camera crews were waiting by the dock for the ship’s arrival yesterday in Tokyo port, where about 10 right-wing protesters held up signs branding Bethune an “eco-terrorist.”
“Anyone who has done wrongdoing will have to face severe punishment in accordance with the law,” Japanese Fisheries Minister Hirotaka Akamatsu told reporters.
Bethune was to meet a lawyer and a New Zealand diplomat later in the day. New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said Bethune would receive the consular assistance that is routinely provided to New Zealanders arrested overseas.
The brazen boarding was the latest incident in Sea Shepherd’s campaign to hamper Japanese whaling activities. The activists trail whaling boats and try to disrupt the hunt by dangling ropes in the water to snarl the ships’ propellers and hurling packets of stinking, rancid butter on the whaling ships’ decks.
The whalers have responded by firing water cannons and sonar devices meant to disorient the activists.
Japan’s annual whale hunt is allowed by the International Whaling Commission as a scientific program, but opponents call it a cover for commercial whaling, which has been banned since 1986.
Whale meat isn’t widely eaten in Japan, but is available in some restaurants and stores.
Sea Shepherd leader Paul Watson said in an interview last week with Japanese public broadcaster NHK that Bethune knew “what he was doing” when he boarded the whaling vessel to confront its captain.
“We are going to expose the illegality of the Japanese whaling operation at every opportunity,” he said.
Officials have two days to interrogate Bethune before handing him over to prosecutors to decide whether to press formal charges against him to stand trial in Japan, said coast guard spokesman Masahiro Ichijo.
He said authorities are also considering additional allegations, including assault and destruction of property.
“We will aggressively investigate this case, and a string of other alleged obstructions” by Sea Shepherd, Tokyo coast guard chief Takeo Murui told a news conference after the arrest.
Japanese authorities say they suspect Bethune might be linked to the injury of two whalers hit by bottles containing rancid butter, and the slashing of a protective net belonging to one of the Japanese whaling boats.
As the sun sets on another scorching Yangon day, the hot and bothered descend on the Myanmar city’s parks, the coolest place to spend an evening during yet another power blackout. A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted Southeast Asia this week, sending the mercury to 45°C and prompting thousands of schools to suspend in-person classes. Even before the chaos and conflict unleashed by the military’s 2021 coup, Myanmar’s creaky and outdated electricity grid struggled to keep fans whirling and air conditioners humming during the hot season. Now, infrastructure attacks and dwindling offshore gas reserves mean those who cannot afford expensive diesel
Does Argentine President Javier Milei communicate with a ghost dog whose death he refuses to accept? Forced to respond to questions about his mental health, the president’s office has lashed out at “disrespectful” speculation. Twice this week, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni was asked about Milei’s English Mastiff, Conan, said to have died seven years ago. Milei, 53, had Conan cloned, and today is believed to own four copies he refers to as “four-legged children.” Or is it five? In an interview with CNN this month, Milei referred to his five dogs, whose faces and names he had engraved on the presidential baton. Conan,
French singer Kendji Girac, who was seriously injured by a gunshot this week, wanted to “fake” his suicide to scare his partner who was threatening to leave him, prosecutors said on Thursday. The 27-year-old former winner of France’s version of The Voice was found wounded after police were called to a traveler camp in Biscarrosse on France’s southwestern coast. Girac told first responders he had accidentally shot himself while tinkering with a Colt .45 automatic pistol he had bought at a junk shop, a source said. On Thursday, regional prosecutor Olivier Janson said, citing the singer, that he wanted to “fake” his suicide
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed his pledge to replace India’s religion-based marriage and inheritance laws with a uniform civil code if he returns to office for a third term, a move that some minority groups have opposed. In an interview with the Times of India listing his agenda, Modi said his government would push for making the code a reality. “It is clear that separate laws for communities are detrimental to the health of society,” he said in the interview published yesterday. “We cannot be a nation where one community is progressing with the support of the Constitution while the other