Japan seeks to arrest Sea Shepherd anti-whaling activists

Japan said on Aug. 18 it would take legal action against three members of the Sea Shepherd conservation group, including one Briton, whom it accused of obstructing its whaling fleet during clashes in the Antarctic in February 2007. In a further sign of Japan's hardline stance against anti-whaling activists, police will place the men, a Briton named by sources as Daniel Bebawi, 28, from Nottingham, and two US citizens on an international wanted list as soon as arrest warrants are issued. "It's only natural to seek an arrest warrant as we've determined that a crime was committed," Nobutaka Machimura, the government's chief spokesman, told reporters. "Regardless of the differences of opinion, it is unacceptable that those involved [in whaling] get injured… or have their lives put in danger." Sea Shepherd was unavailable for comment this afternoon. Last month, police charged two Greenpeace activists with stealing a consignment of whale meat. The protesters intercepted the meat to support allegations that Japanese whalers were selling it on the black market. Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki, both members of the group's Japan branch, are accused of stealing a box containing 23kg of whale meat from a postal company warehouse in April. Japan claims the three men involved in the Sea Shepherd case illegally obstructed the whaling fleet by jamming the propeller of the Kaiko Maru with a rope and throwing flares on to its deck. Police will not pursue allegations that two whalers were injured by containers of butyric acid -- rancid butter -- hurled by Sea Shepherd activists. The environmental group says the Kaiko Maru twice rammed one of its ships, leaving gashes in its hull, and denies whalers were hurt in the acid attacks. Japan's recent hunt in the southern ocean was frustrated by protests from Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace. The country had planned to catch 850 minke whales but returned with 551. Sea Shepherd has vowed to disrupt the next whaling expedition, due to start at the end of the year. The International Whaling Commission banned commercial whaling in 1986 but allows Japan to conduct "lethal research" into the cetaceans' migratory and breeding habits. The moratorium requires that meat from the hunts be sold on the open market, although domestic consumption is at an all-time low.