Aye Aye Captain

At the end of May Paul Watson, the Sea Shepherd Captain jailed in Holland, won the first round in his battle against extradition to Norway when the presiding judge threw out two of the most serious charges. He will now spend two weeks considering the remaining arguments. Paul was detained in Holland in April following a Sea Shepherd action against illegal Norwegian whaling. The Norwegian state laid their charges and demanded extradition but with ‘wreckless navigating’ and ‘illegal entry into Norwegian Waters’ out of the way the case has become a little flimsy leaving only the minor charge of sending a false distress signal. For this heinous crime Norwegian navy commandoes dropped four depth charges on Sea Shepherd, fired on her with 50mm cannon and sheared off the bow in a ramming attack. The legal team relish the PR opportunity of this going to court and by the time of the ruling Paul will have been in jail for over 60 days even though sending a false distress signal normally carries just a small fine.

The initial verdict means that the Norwegian government has been rebuffed for sending an unjust extradition order and it is another Direct Action victory for everyone opposed to whale slaughter. But there's