Touring Europe's prisons

Foreign Affairs sits on its hands while Norway hunts down a Canadian environmentalist

by PHILIP PREVILLE

Rogue Canadian environmentalist Paul Watson, co-founder of Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS), is currently being held in a Netherlands prison based upon what the SSCS calls a "falsified" INTERPOL arrest warrant issued by Norway. And despite questions surrounding the validity of the warrant, Foreign Affairs Canada says it will not intervene in the case.

Watson was arrested April 2 while traveling through Amsterdam on his Canadian passport. He is currently being held in Lelystad Penitentiary in Hoofddorp, where he is awaiting an extradition request from Norway. Watson was convicted in absentia in a Norway court for his role in the 1992 sinking of the Norwegian whaling ship Nybraena.

But according to Victor Koppe, Watson's lawyer in the Netherlands, there are serious discrepancies between the INTERPOL warrant for Watson's arrest and the official court documents from his conviction. The warrant names Watson as the individual who actually sank the Nybraena. But court records say Watson was not in Norway at the time it sank; another SSCS member was named as responsible for scuttling the Nybraena while in port with no one on board. Watson was convicted for aiding and abetting the crime.

"The warrant was clearly issued in bad faith by the Norwegian government," Koppe told the Mirror. "The warrant is totally contrary to the facts of the case and the discrepancies make it easier for other governments to arrest him." Koppe points out that three days prior to his arrest in Amsterdam, Watson was also arrested in Germany on the same INTERPOL warrant; he was released the next day due to the discrepancies.

Due to what many people consider his "environmental extremism," Watson has made few friends with the Canadian or any other government. Watson, who founded the SSCS in 1977, is among the most well known--and least loved--Canadians on the international scene. The sinking of the Nybraena is perhaps the least notable of Watson's exploits. In 1980, he engineered the scuttling of half of Spain's whaling fleet. He has rammed whaling ships in open seas on more than one occasion.

Watson is currently being held in a solitary cell and is allowed social contact for only one hour each day. But if extradited to Norway, Watson's supporters say he will face an even worse fate. "Paul will die in prison," says SSCS's international director Lisa Distefano, Watson's wife. "We have received very specific threats about what will happen to him if he ends up there."

"This is history repeating itself," Distefano says. "Chico Mendez was killed because he fought for the rainforests. Dian Fossey was killed and now no one watches out for the gorillas. They said no one would ever touch Stephen Biko in jail because 'the whole world was watching.'

"In Norway, Paul is more hated than [Nazi collaborator] Quisling. This country is lying on an INTERPOL warrant. His arrest would be a trophy for the Norwegian government."