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Update: June 14, 2012
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This clip of Sharkwater proves Captain Paul Watson's innocence.....
No harm came to anyone or the boat for that matter..... they were simply trying to stop ILLEGAL Shark finning poachers.... As you can see That is exactly what those fishermen were doing..... |
A Message from Paul Watson
June 5, 2012
MAY 22, 2012
WEEAC Deutschland & WDSF are working together in Germany . . . .
LETTER FROM PAUL WATSON . . . .
Via Juergen Ortmueller of WDSF
Greetings From Germany
From Captain Paul Watson
I would like to thank everyone around the world for the incredible support over the last week that I spent in a Frankfurt prison. It is greatly appreciated. The people of Sea Shepherd Germany have been wonderful and I have happy to see so much support from supporters in Costa Rica and around the world also.
We have an excellent worldwide legal team working hard to resolve this legal issue. I am confident that this team will do the very best they can on every front involved with this case.
Although I have no reason to believe that the Costa Rican legal system would not give me a fair trial, my concern is not for the judicial system, but for the reality that the shark fin mafia of Costa Rica has a price on my head and a Costa Rican prison would provide an excellent opportunity for someone to exercise this lethal contract against me. We have cost the shark finners a great deal of money over the last two decades and they want their revenge. I would need absolute assurance that the Costa Rican authorities would not place me in the position to jeopardize my safety when I return to Costa Rica to prove my innocence in court.
There are two very important points that I would like to make. The first is that although my arrest and detention have been a focus of this incredible support the fact is that this is not about me. It is about our oceans and the ever escalating threat of diminishment of the diversity of life in our seas. It is about the sharks, the whales, the seals, the sea turtles and the fish.
This is an opportunity to shine an international spotlight on what is happening to the sharks and especially to illustrate that there are elements in Costa Rica responsible for a great deal of the illegal trafficking in shark fins.
Secondly I want to make it very clear that whatever happens to me will not affect our campaigns. I have delegated the responsibility of commanding our ships to my very capable captains and they will be defending sharks this summer in the South Pacific and the whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. The Cove Guardians will return to Taiji, Japan in September to defend the dolphins.
Fortunately Sea Shepherd is now much bigger than myself and even more fortunately is the reality that we now have a legion of passionate, dedicated, courageous and resourceful volunteers around the world. If I am prevented from serving on the front lines upon the high seas I will serve as a symbol of resistance to the destruction of our oceans from inside a prison cell.
Power and greed do not surrender easily and history has shown that sometimes prison is an ordeal that must be endured in order to shake the foundations of powerful special interests. There is no shame in incarceration as Mandela, Gandhi, Thoreau, Aung San Suu Kyi, and so many others have demonstrated.
Power does not relinquish easy and the powers opposing our efforts are immense like the shark finning, bluefin tuna fishing, whaling and dolphin killing industries and the governments that support this trade in death like Japan, Costa Rica, Norway, Iceland, Malta, Canada etc. Sometimes I’m surprised we have made any progress at all but progress we have made indeed, and we will continue to win victories for our clients in the sea, no matter what the obstacles thrown in our path because Sea Shepherd is not just me, it is now an international movement and our flag is becoming widely known and more and more respected and most importantly our permanent and most proud legacy are the thousands of whales, tens of thousands of sharks, hundreds of thousands of seals and millions of fish that swim free in the sea now, that would otherwise have been cruelly slain if not for our intervention.
In the end it is about them and not about us.
We invest our passion and in return we reap the ever enduring seeds of life.
Please Continue to send Emails and sign the Petition... If germany would cancel the arrest warrant... this nightmare would be over immediately..... Please join the Event... Send the emails, Sign the petitions....
Thank you!
CLICK HERE FOR FACEBOOK EVENT
WEEAC Deutschland & WDSF are working together in Germany . . . .
LETTER FROM PAUL WATSON . . . .
Via Juergen Ortmueller of WDSF
Greetings From Germany
From Captain Paul Watson
I would like to thank everyone around the world for the incredible support over the last week that I spent in a Frankfurt prison. It is greatly appreciated. The people of Sea Shepherd Germany have been wonderful and I have happy to see so much support from supporters in Costa Rica and around the world also.
We have an excellent worldwide legal team working hard to resolve this legal issue. I am confident that this team will do the very best they can on every front involved with this case.
Although I have no reason to believe that the Costa Rican legal system would not give me a fair trial, my concern is not for the judicial system, but for the reality that the shark fin mafia of Costa Rica has a price on my head and a Costa Rican prison would provide an excellent opportunity for someone to exercise this lethal contract against me. We have cost the shark finners a great deal of money over the last two decades and they want their revenge. I would need absolute assurance that the Costa Rican authorities would not place me in the position to jeopardize my safety when I return to Costa Rica to prove my innocence in court.
There are two very important points that I would like to make. The first is that although my arrest and detention have been a focus of this incredible support the fact is that this is not about me. It is about our oceans and the ever escalating threat of diminishment of the diversity of life in our seas. It is about the sharks, the whales, the seals, the sea turtles and the fish.
This is an opportunity to shine an international spotlight on what is happening to the sharks and especially to illustrate that there are elements in Costa Rica responsible for a great deal of the illegal trafficking in shark fins.
Secondly I want to make it very clear that whatever happens to me will not affect our campaigns. I have delegated the responsibility of commanding our ships to my very capable captains and they will be defending sharks this summer in the South Pacific and the whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. The Cove Guardians will return to Taiji, Japan in September to defend the dolphins.
Fortunately Sea Shepherd is now much bigger than myself and even more fortunately is the reality that we now have a legion of passionate, dedicated, courageous and resourceful volunteers around the world. If I am prevented from serving on the front lines upon the high seas I will serve as a symbol of resistance to the destruction of our oceans from inside a prison cell.
Power and greed do not surrender easily and history has shown that sometimes prison is an ordeal that must be endured in order to shake the foundations of powerful special interests. There is no shame in incarceration as Mandela, Gandhi, Thoreau, Aung San Suu Kyi, and so many others have demonstrated.
Power does not relinquish easy and the powers opposing our efforts are immense like the shark finning, bluefin tuna fishing, whaling and dolphin killing industries and the governments that support this trade in death like Japan, Costa Rica, Norway, Iceland, Malta, Canada etc. Sometimes I’m surprised we have made any progress at all but progress we have made indeed, and we will continue to win victories for our clients in the sea, no matter what the obstacles thrown in our path because Sea Shepherd is not just me, it is now an international movement and our flag is becoming widely known and more and more respected and most importantly our permanent and most proud legacy are the thousands of whales, tens of thousands of sharks, hundreds of thousands of seals and millions of fish that swim free in the sea now, that would otherwise have been cruelly slain if not for our intervention.
In the end it is about them and not about us.
We invest our passion and in return we reap the ever enduring seeds of life.
Please Continue to send Emails and sign the Petition... If germany would cancel the arrest warrant... this nightmare would be over immediately..... Please join the Event... Send the emails, Sign the petitions....
Thank you!
CLICK HERE FOR FACEBOOK EVENT
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A Message from Paul Mitchell to Free Paul Watson
May 22, 2012 |
Child Actor and Sea Shepherd Youth Ambassador Zach Callison Pleas For Captain
May 24, 2012 Richard Dean Anderson call's for Captain Paul Watson's Release
May 29, 2012 |
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Interview with Paul Watson on Australian TV. . . .
May 22, 2012 |
Kelly Slater Calls for Immediate Release of Captain Paul Watson . . .
"Eleven-time World Surfing Champion and Sea Shepherd Advisory Board member, Kelly Slater, recently stepped up to the plate to rally international support for Captain Paul Watson in the surfing world. On Sunday he wrote: The incident in question was thoroughly documented in the award winning film Sharkwater, released in 2007, which brought world wide media attention to the hideous reality of the corrupt and brutal shark finning industry. A recent clip of the incident was issued by Film Maker Rob Stewart in order to prove Captain Watson’s innocence and be viewed below." CLICK HERE TO READ STORE & VIEW VIDEO CLIP OF SHARKWATER... |
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MAY 19, 2012 Please Join our Event, to stay up to date on the latest Actions....https://www.facebook.com/events/227694060675297/ Currently we are still sending Emails and Signing Petitions. The Newest Action just came from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society calling for a GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION May 23, 2012https://www.facebook.com/events/293389937418073/_ |
MAY 18, 2012
Higher Regional Court Defers Judgment to Ministry of Justice – Bogus Extradition Process to Proceed, but Captain Paul Watson Granted Bail (250,000Euros)! Monday, May 21st He will be released from Jail but not the Country!! Sea Shepherd is planning a global day of action on Wednesday May 23, to coincide with a diplomatic visit to Germany by Costa Rican president Laura Chinchilla Miranda. http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/2012/05/18/higher-regional-court-defers-judgment-to-ministry-of-justice-bogus-extradition-process-to-proceed-bu-1379 |
MAY 16 2012
Read statement from Captain Paul Watson from his prison cell
Thank you!Germany Considers Sending Whale Defender to What Will be a Death Sentence in Costa Rica
Today in Frankfurt, Germany the general Public Prosecutor to the Higher Regional Court requested a preliminary extradition arrest warrant against Captain Paul Watson, on the basis of the local arrest warrant and request for extradition from Costa Rica. In a highly unusual move, the Public Prosecutor stated that the German Ministry of Justice and the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs have the power to stop the extradition procedures on political grounds.
If the German Ministry of Justice and/or the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs give notice that they would not grant an extradition of Paul Watson to Costa Rica the case would be over, and Captain Watson would be set free immediately. We ask our supporters to continue to appeal the German Ministry of Justice for help.
Sea Shepherd representatives were able to visit Captain Watson in the Frankfurt prison this morning and they were able to record the following statement from Captain Watson:
In our efforts to defend the lives of whales, dolphins, seals, sharks, and fish we have made some powerful enemies, most notably the government of Japan. It is no coincidence that the extradition request by Costa Rica was issued the same month (October 2011) as the Japanese whaling (ICR) lawsuit against Sea Shepherd was initiated. The extradition request was in reference to a complaint from Costa Rican fishermen who I caught poaching in Guatemalan waters. The fishermen were not injured and their boat was not damaged. The incident was fully documented for the film Sharkwater. Interpol originally denied this extradition order and deemed it as politically motivated. Therefore the question must be asked why Germany is now taking into account accusations made by illegal poachers.”- Captain Paul Watson
Captain Watson has travelled extensively throughout the world since the Costa Rican government issued this arrest warrant in October of 2011. He has been to Australia, France, Spain, the United Kingdom, etc. None of these countries have sought to arrest Captain Watson as Germany has.
Should Captain Watson be extradited to Costa Rica, he will certainly not receive a fair trial and his safety cannot be guaranteed. Sea Shepherd is doing everything it can to provide Captain Watson the best legal defense team possible. Between the illegal Japanese whalers and the shark finning mafia in Costa Rica, Captain Watson has formidable enemies who seek to stop his efforts to defend marine life.
Your generous donation will help keep Captain Watson out of harm’s way, and will allow him to fulfill his mission: to protect marine creatures while there is still hope.
Please donate to Captain Watson's legal defense fund: www.seashepherd.org/freepaulwatson
Watch the Sea Shepherd press conference, Germany Frankfurt airport, May 16, 2012: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-ZeNi5PdR4&feature=player_embedded
Sea Shepherd news posting: http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/2012/05/16/germany-considers-sending-whale-defender-to-what-will-be-a-death-sentence-in-costa-rica-1377
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