Japan demands ship safety, before protesters freed - Reuters

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Japan demands ship safety, before protesters freed
Wed Jan 16, 2008 9:34am EST

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Japanese whalers and protesters
in the icy Southern Ocean charged each other with
"terrorism and piracy" on Wednesday, as two activists
remained locked up on a Japanese ship after boarding
the vessel in a protest action.

Whaling has halted while the two men are being held on
board and will not re-start until they have been handed
over, Japanese Fisheries Agency official Takahide Naruko
told reporters.

Naruko, head of the agency's Far Seas division, declined
to say how many whales had been taken before the
suspension.

The whalers said they would only release the two men if
the militant Sea Shepherd Conservation Group promised
not to take any "violent action" against their ship and
keep the protest ship Steve Irwin 10 nautical miles from
the whaler Yushin Maru No.2.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSSYD782820080116

[Mythsaje]

1. Sounds like extortion to me.

Anyone else?

[oldhippie]

2. I think those two illegal boarders .........

... (aka "pirates") are very lucky that the whaling ship captain is being reasonable.