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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Japan Indicts Anti-Whaling Activist |
| 2010-04-04 |
| HONG KONG — Prosecutors in Tokyo indicted an anti-whaling activist on Friday for illegally boarding a Japanese whaling vessel in February. News agencies in Japan said Peter Bethune, 44, a New Zealander, was charged with five criminal counts — trespassing, assault, illegal possession of a knife, destruction of property and obstruction of business. “These charges are bogus, and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society questions the credibility of the entire Japanese judicial system for entertaining such absurdities,' the anti-whaling group said Friday on its Web site, calling Mr. Bethune, who is a member of the group, “a political prisoner.' And he'll be one for about five years, I'm guessing ... Mr. Bethune allegedly used a jet ski to approach the whaling ship Shonan Maru 2 on Feb. 15, then cut through an anti-boarding net that was draped around the hull and climbed on board. He presented the captain of the whaler with a bill for $3 million for damages to the Ady Gil, a former racing trimaran that was skippered by Mr. Bethune when it collided with the Shonan Maru 2 on Jan. 6. There's no 'allegedly' about it; he went onto the ship. Mr. Bethune was taken into custody by the crew, who held him for a month as the whaling ship returned to Japan. When the boat arrived in Tokyo on March 12, he was taken into custody by the Japanese Coast Guard. The Ady Gil was being used by the Sea Shepherd groupto interfere with Japanese whaling ships during their annual hunt in the Antarctic, south of Australia and New Zealand. The bow of the Ady Gil was sheared off in the collision, and Mr. Bethune and his crew were rescued by the Bob Barker, another Sea Shepherd boat. Each ship blamed the other for the incident. The assault and obstruction of business charges carry prison terms up to 15 years, and a trespassing conviction can result in a three-year prison sentence, The Associated Press reported from Tokyo. Japanese media reports have suggested that Tokyo intends to use Mr. Bethune's case as a warning to Sea Shepherd to end its confrontations with Japan's whaling fleet. The group has tried to disrupt the Antarctic hunts by blocking Japanese ships, using ropes to clog their propellers and throwing bottles of rancid butter onto their decks to make them slippery. Hirotaka Akamatsu, the Japanese fisheries minister, told reporters when Mr. Bethune was arrested that his actions were “outrageously illegal behavior.' Japan kills about 1,000 whales a year — primarily minke whales — as part of a government-financed program that Tokyo says is for scientific purposes. Activists say the program is a cover for commercial whaling, which was banned globally in 1986. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #7 Sea Shepherd begins recruiting Somalis tomorrow. |
| Posted by: Grunter 2010-04-04 18:11 |
| #6 Law of the Sea, he knew the risks of boarding their ship. |
| Posted by: 746 2010-04-04 13:26 |
| #5 p2k, men don't need to spend time in a Japanese jail for that. Or so this Catholic girl heard, have no idea, nope, no way, sorry..... |
| Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie 2010-04-04 11:33 |
| #4 ...and lusting after women dressed in short skirt school uniforms. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-04-04 08:37 |
| #3 LOL Barb - and he'll be addicted to Anime and whale meat |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-04-04 08:01 |
| #2 These "whale wars" people are committing acts of piracy. The ships they attack would be within their rights to sink them immediately, and I believe most people would either cheer or simply move on. |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2010-04-04 06:50 |
| #1 Look on the bright side, Mr. Bethune - by the time you're a free man again, you'll be able to speak Japanese. It's always good to know a second language. :-D |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2010-04-04 00:17 |