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Kiwi anti-whaling activist Peter Bethune - Source: Reuters -
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Japan's coastguard arrested Kiwi anti-whaling activist Pete
Bethune who boarded a whaling vessel in the Antarctic following
clashes between hunters and environmentalists, a spokesman
said.
Media helicopters hovered overhead as a flotilla of ships sailed
into Tokyo Bay and Bethune of the hard-line Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society was brought ashore after being held on board
for the four-week trip.
Sea Shepherd's regular attempts to block the annual whale hunt have
sparked irritation in Japan, where the government says whaling is
an important cultural tradition.
Bethune, the captain of the Ady Gil, a high-tech vessel that was
damaged in a collision with a Japanese whaling ship in January,
approached Japan's Shonan Maru 2 on a jet ski, breached
anti-boarding nets and climbed aboard in darkness on February
15.
Sea Shepherd said the 44-year-old had been planning to attempt a
citizen's arrest of the skipper.
Bethune was arrested on the ship on arrival in Tokyo, the
coastguard spokesman said.
Crowds of media and a handful of pro-whaling demonstrators were
awaiting his arrival on the pier, which was blocked from view by
blue tarpaulins.
"We want the Japanese government to punish the activist as severely
as possible under Japanese law and ask the New Zealand government
to remove the Ady Gil's ship registration," said protester Shuhei
Nishimura.
A coast guard official later told reporters Bethune appeared to be
in good health and was answering questions readily.
Last month Australia set Japan a November deadline to stop Southern
Ocean whaling or face an international legal challenge.
Some legal experts say Japan's hunt breaches international laws
such as the Antarctic Treaty System.
A court challenge would lead to provisional orders for Japan to
immediately halt whaling ahead of a full hearing.
The top government spokesman reiterated on Friday that he did not
believe the issue would harm ties between Japan and Australia,
which have important trade ties.
"I don't think the relationship with Australia will worsen because
each country has stuck with the same policy argument until now,"
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano told reporters.
Commercial whaling was banned under a 1986 moratorium, but Japan
still hunts whales for what it says are research purposes.
The meat mostly ends up on dinner tables.
