Paul Watson free: No extradition to Japan

The 74-year-old is now free to travel to his family in France, the activist's lawyer Julie Stage told the news agency Ritzau. According to Greenlandic police, Watson was released that same morning (local time) following the ministry's decision.

This brings to an end a months-long struggle over Watson's extradition, just before Christmas. The Canadian-American citizen had been arrested in July in the Greenlandic capital Nuuk on the basis of an international arrest warrant issued by Japan, after he had docked there with the vessel «John Paul DeJoria». Since then, his time in custody had been repeatedly extended, while it remained unclear whether he would be extradited to Japan.

Greenland is largely autonomous but officially part of the Kingdom of Denmark. The final decision on extradition therefore rested with the Danish Ministry of Justice.

Well-known whale protector with controversial methods

Watson is one of the most prominent whale protectors. He was once among the earliest members of Greenpeace and later founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Given his confrontational methods in protecting marine mammals, some environmentalists regard him as a hero, while others consider him too radical.

Japan's arrest warrant over Antarctic incident

His actions have also turned several whaling nations against him — Japan in particular. Following an incident with a whaling vessel in Antarctica in 2010, Japanese authorities issued the aforementioned arrest warrant against him, accusing him of having damaged the vessel at the time and of having obstructed the whalers in their work.

Watson denied any guilt. His lawyers argued that the accusations were merely a pretext to take action against him because he had publicly exposed Japan's violations of agreements on the protection of whales . There were several international calls and demonstrations for his release.