Volkswacht Bodensee - Denmark awaits Japan's extradition request for anti-whaling activist

Watson, the 73-year-old American-Canadian founder of activist group Sea Shepherd, was arrested on Sunday in Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, under an international arrest warrant issued by Japan.

He will remain in custody until August 15, while the Danish justice ministry decides whether he should be extradited.

But a justice ministry statement said Wednesday: "Extradition from Greenland for prosecution in other countries can only occur following an extradition request from the country that issued the arrest warrant."

Only when such a request was received would the ministry decide whether there were grounds to extradite, the statement added. And for the moment, they are still waiting to hear from Japan.

"Such an extradition request must be submitted no later than 30 days after the arrest."

But Japan's government, in its first comments on Watson's arrest, said Wednesday it had long been pressing countries to detain him.

Government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo the Coast Guard authority would "take the appropriate action" in the case, in consultation with other ministries.

- 'Appropriate action' -

French President Emmanuel Macron's office said Tuesday that he had already asked the Danish authorities not to extradite Watson, who has lived in France for the past year.

French screen legend Brigitte Bardot is among the campaigners who have rallied to his cause, calling for his release.

Watson was arrested after arriving in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, when the ship John Paul DeJoria docked to refuel.

The vessel was on its way to "intercept" Japan's new whaling factory vessel in the North Pacific, said a statement from the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF).

Watson was arrested on the basis of an Interpol Red Notice issued in 2012, when Japan has accused him of causing damage and injury to one of its Japanese whaling ships in the Antarctic two years earlier.

At the time Japanese ships, pursued aggressively by activists, hunted whales in the Antarctic and North Pacific for "scientific" purposes.

The CPWF said the arrest had come as a "surprise since the Foundation's lawyers had reported that the Red Notice had been withdrawn".

Japan, Norway and Iceland are the last three countries in the world to practice commercial whale hunting.

P.Staeheli--VB