JAPAN: Japanese authorities arrest anti-whaling activist Pete Bethune, as whaling ship Shonan Maru 2 returns home

Record ID: 462357

  • Title: JAPAN: Japanese authorities arrest anti-whaling activist Pete Bethune, as whaling ship Shonan Maru 2 returns home
  • Date: 13th March 2010
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (MARCH 12, 2010) (REUTERS) JAPANESE WHALING VESSEL SHONAN MARU 2, CARRYING NEW ZEALANDER ANTI-WHALING ACTIVIST PETER BETHUNE, COMING INTO TOKYO BAY WHALING VESSEL HELICOPTER FLYING VARIOUS OF WHALING VESSEL COMING INTO A PORT IN TOKYO BAY JAPANESE ACTIVISTS PROTESTING AT A PORT IN TOKYO BAY WHILE THE VESSEL GETS IN MORE OF JAPANESE ACTIVISTS PROTESTING
  • Embargoed: 28th March 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA4VCGP1RFG8U6EB68MRBKZ9KUT
  • Story Text: Japan's coast guards on Friday (March 12) arrested an anti-whaling activist who boarded a whaling vessel in the Antarctic following clashes between hunters and environmentalists, a spokesman said.
    Media helicopters hovered overhead as a flotilla of ships sailed into the Tokyo Bay and New Zealander Pete Bethune of the hardline Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was brought ashore from the four-week trip back from the South Seas.
    Sea Shepherd's regular attempts to block the annual whale hunt have sparked irritation in Japan, where the government says whaling is an important cultural tradition.
    Last month, Australia set Japan a November deadline to stop Southern Ocean whaling or face an international legal challenge.
    Bethune, the captain of a high-tech vessel that was damaged in a collision with a Japanese whaling ship in January, approached Japan's Shonan Maru 2 on a jet ski, breached anti-boarding nets and climbed aboard in darkness on February 15.
    Sea Shepherd said he had been planning to attempt a citizen's arrest of the skipper.
    Bethune was arrested on the ship on arrival in Tokyo, the coastguard spokesman said.
    Crowds of media and a handful of pro-whaling demonstrators were awaiting his arrival on the pier, which was blocked from view by blue tarpaulins.
    Some legal experts say Japan's hunt breaches international laws such as the Antarctic Treaty System.
    A court challenge would lead to provisional orders for Japan to immediately halt whaling ahead of a full hearing.
    The top government spokesman reiterated on Friday that he did not believe the issue would harm ties between Japan and Australia.
    "Australia has it's way of thinking but the Japanese government will maintain it's position held for sometime. But I don't think the arrest will affect relations with Australia," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano told reporters.
    Commercial whaling was banned under a 1986 moratorium, but Japan still hunts whales for what it says are research purposes. The meat mostlyup on dinner tables.
    Bethune's arrest comes days after "The Cove", a documentary about an annual dolphin hunt in the Japanese town of Taiji, won an Academy Award, sparking a protest from the town's mayor.
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