Gumleaf
January 16th, 2008, 05:20 PM
Thursday Jan 17 08:02 AEDT
By ninemsn staff
with wires
The Japanese whaling vessel Yushin Maru may be heading back to Japan with two captive activists on board, according to reports.
A tense stand off has developed between the Japanese whaling ship and protest group Sea Shepherd after the two activists, from the ship Steve Irwin, boarded the Yushin Maru late on Tuesday afternoon.
Sea Shepherd representatives have accused the Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research of acting like "terrorists", while the Japanese government says the Steve Irwin has deliberately avoided contact to prolong negotiations.
A spokesman for Sea Shepherd, Jonny Vasic, told the Nine Network's Today show he had heard reports the Yushin Maru was heading back to Japan.
"We have lost them on our radar … we have heard those same reports," Mr Vasic said.
He denied Sea Shepherd was attempting to prolong the stand off, saying the group's only priority was to get back Australian Benjamin Potts, 28, and Briton Giles Lane, 35.
Steve Irwin captain Paul Watson said the pursuit of the fleet of five whaling vessels would continue on Thursday.
"Japan's threatened to take them back to Japan and put them on trial for piracy, which is somewhat ludicrous, but they're coming under increasing pressure the longer they keep these people hostage," he said.
"I'm hoping they will come to their senses and release them soon otherwise it's just an ongoing international incident and I don't see Japan benefiting from that."
Captain Watson said despite two of the Steve Irwin's crew being held, the anti-whaling plans were on track, with no whales killed in the Southern Ocean for at least seven days.
"The Japanese are saying they will release them if we give into their demands and one of those demands is that we stop interfering with their whaling operations," Captain Watson said.
"We're not going to do that.
"The fact that they're holding hostages and making demands, that's extortion and that's the kind of activity you'd expect from a terrorist organisation and we're demanding that they release the hostages without any conditions at all."
Mr Potts and Mr Lane boarded Yushin Maru No. 2 with a letter to give the vessel's captain, Captain Watson said.
He denied reports the pair had thrown acid on the Japanese ship's deck.
"When our two people went on board they went peacefully with a message for the captain," he said.
"After that we tried to stop the vessel every way we could and one of the ways was to throw stink bombs onto the deck, it's really ... rotten butter, and that was in an effort to deter them to try and get them to stop so that we could get the return of our people."
©AAP 2008
By ninemsn staff
with wires
The Japanese whaling vessel Yushin Maru may be heading back to Japan with two captive activists on board, according to reports.
A tense stand off has developed between the Japanese whaling ship and protest group Sea Shepherd after the two activists, from the ship Steve Irwin, boarded the Yushin Maru late on Tuesday afternoon.
Sea Shepherd representatives have accused the Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research of acting like "terrorists", while the Japanese government says the Steve Irwin has deliberately avoided contact to prolong negotiations.
A spokesman for Sea Shepherd, Jonny Vasic, told the Nine Network's Today show he had heard reports the Yushin Maru was heading back to Japan.
"We have lost them on our radar … we have heard those same reports," Mr Vasic said.
He denied Sea Shepherd was attempting to prolong the stand off, saying the group's only priority was to get back Australian Benjamin Potts, 28, and Briton Giles Lane, 35.
Steve Irwin captain Paul Watson said the pursuit of the fleet of five whaling vessels would continue on Thursday.
"Japan's threatened to take them back to Japan and put them on trial for piracy, which is somewhat ludicrous, but they're coming under increasing pressure the longer they keep these people hostage," he said.
"I'm hoping they will come to their senses and release them soon otherwise it's just an ongoing international incident and I don't see Japan benefiting from that."
Captain Watson said despite two of the Steve Irwin's crew being held, the anti-whaling plans were on track, with no whales killed in the Southern Ocean for at least seven days.
"The Japanese are saying they will release them if we give into their demands and one of those demands is that we stop interfering with their whaling operations," Captain Watson said.
"We're not going to do that.
"The fact that they're holding hostages and making demands, that's extortion and that's the kind of activity you'd expect from a terrorist organisation and we're demanding that they release the hostages without any conditions at all."
Mr Potts and Mr Lane boarded Yushin Maru No. 2 with a letter to give the vessel's captain, Captain Watson said.
He denied reports the pair had thrown acid on the Japanese ship's deck.
"When our two people went on board they went peacefully with a message for the captain," he said.
"After that we tried to stop the vessel every way we could and one of the ways was to throw stink bombs onto the deck, it's really ... rotten butter, and that was in an effort to deter them to try and get them to stop so that we could get the return of our people."
©AAP 2008