
Interpol takes anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson off its most-wanted list
PARIS (AP) — Interpol said Tuesday it was removing a most-wanted designation for anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson, who is sought by Japan over an encounter with a whaling ship and who was jailed for several months last year in Greenland.
Watson, 74, is a former head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, whose high seas confrontations with whaling vessels have drawn support from celebrities and featured in the reality television series “Whale Wars.”
Japan wants his extradition over an encounter with a Japanese whaling research ship in 2001, when he was accused of obstructing the crew’s official duties by ordering the captain of his ship to throw explosives at the whaling ship.
Starting in 2012, Watson had been subject to a “red notice” of Interpol, the Lyon, France-based international police body.