Japan says Paul Watson case ‘nothing to do with whaling’

Japan’s push to have activist Paul Watson extradited from Greenland is a law-enforcement issue and has nothing to do with whaling, new Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said Friday in rare public comments on the case.

The co-founder of Sea Shepherd was arrested in Greenland in July on an arrest warrant issued by Japan, which accuses him of damaging its whaling ship and injuring a Japanese crew member in clashes off Antarctica in 2010.

“Japan is requesting from the Danish government an extradition of the suspect,” Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters in Tokyo. Greenland is a Danish autonomous territory.