Paul Watson is likely to face 15 years behind bars, do you know why?

The founder of the US-based environmental group Sea Shepherd, Paul Watson, could face up to 15 years in prison in Japan after Japan’s Justice Ministry said sentences for Watson’s charges range from up to three years in prison or a fine of 100,000 yen (£503.10) for trespassing a ship and up to 15 years in prison, or a fine of 500,000 yen (£2,515.50) for assault.

A spokesman for the ministry clarified that these punishments are general guidelines and could apply to both principals and accomplices.

Watson was arrested earlier this month in Greenland on an international warrant. Watson, who co-founded Greenpeace, is accused of being an accomplice in the attack and tampering with ships, the Japanese Coast Guard said.

These charges are related to an alleged incident involving the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society boarding the Japanese whaling ship Shonan Maru 2 in the Southern Ocean in February 2010.

The Kangei Marua new whaling mother ship, has raised speculation that Japan may be planning to resume whaling activities in the Southern Ocean.

Lamya Essemlali, head of Sea Shepherd’s French branch, visited Watson in custody in Nuuk, Greenland, and reported that he was “doing well” and had “no regrets”.

The incident dates back to when activist Peter Bethune, then a member of Sea Shepherd, allegedly boarded the Sonan Maru by jet ski, trying to capture its captain after the team’s speedboat is destroyed in a collision with the Japanese vessel. Bethune was captured by the whalers and later arrested in Tokyo for illegal boarding, with a two-year suspended sentence.

An arrest warrant was issued for Watson as Bethune’s accomplice in 2010, followed by an Interpol warrant in 2012, which remains active, according to a Japan Coast Guard spokesman. Clashes between Sea Shepherd protesters and whalers have led Japan’s whaling fleet to return home with only half of its planned catch.

Despite a 1986 International Whaling Commission (IWC) moratorium on commercial whaling, Japan was allowed to hunt nearly 1,000 whales a year for “scientific research.” In 2019, Japan withdrew from the IWC, resumed commercial whaling and launched a new whaling mother ship, the 9,300-ton, $47 million Kangei Maru. The ship’s owner, Kyodo Senpaku, denied rumors of a possible trip to the Southern Ocean, saying it would focus on the waters around Japan.

Watson, known for his anti-whaling controversies, was arrested in Nuuk while guiding to intercept the Kangei Maru in the Pacific Northwest, according to the Captain Paul Watson Foundation.

The foundation claimed that the Interpol red notice against it had been lifted months ago, but the Japanese Coast Guard disputed that claim.

Watson will remain in custody in Nuuk until August 15 as Denmark considers his extradition to Japan.

He was denied bail because he was considered a flight risk. French President Emmanuel Macron’s office has asked Danish authorities not to extradite Watson, who has been living in France for the past year, according to AFP.

A French online petition calling on Macron to secure Watson’s release has gathered nearly 670,000 signatures in just eight days.

Sea Shepherd France announced on Tuesday that it had launched a separate online petition addressed to Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, asking her not to extradite Watson.