Japanese whalers being sued for Piracy by Sea Shepherd in Dutch Court
Takver - Australia Indymedia | 09.01.2010 04:45 | Animal Liberation | Ecology | Ocean Defence
According to Liesbeth Zegveld the decision to sue in the Netherlands is justified because one of the six-strong Ady Gil crew is Dutch and the organisation's fleet flag carrier, the ship Steve Irwin, is registered in the Netherlands.
'There is enough evidence,' she said. 'The collision has been recorded on film.'
On Wednesday, January 6, 2010 Japanese whalers rammed the Sea Shepherd boat Ady Gil causing catastrophic damage. The Institute for Cetecean Research refused to accept responsibility for the ramming by the Shonan Maru 2. The 6 crew were all rescued by the second Sea Shepherd vessel in the area, the Bob Baker. The crew were immersed in the icy seas, forced to hang on to the deck for their lives. Crewman Simeon Houtman, of Auckland, received broken ribs in the ramming.
The Bob Barker attempted to tow the stricken vessel to the French Antarctic research station Dumont Durville, but the Ady Gil continued taking on water into its main hull, and has now sunk.
Sea Shepherd have released video footage of the final minutes before the collision which shows the volunteer crew relaxing, talking about the days events, their need to refuel, and farewelling their friends on the Sea Shepherd ship Bob Baker.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/01/08/18634756.php
Original article is at Australia Indymedia which also includes how Whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary is a violation of International Treaties and Australian Law
http://indymedia.org.au/2010/01/09/sea-shepherd-sues-japanese-whalers-for-piracy-in-dutch-court
Takver - Australia Indymedia
Comments
Hide the following 2 comments
Good for you lot!
09.01.2010 17:46
Anti-Poacher
unjust war of aggression, illegal violence
10.01.2010 21:39
Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the use of force as means of settling international disputes.
In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recongnized. Indeed this is a Challenging Recipe for the 21st Century World.
However, it is necessary to point out to Japan that the Japanese Whaling Fleet has invaded aggressively invaded the world's Southern Ocean Whale Sanctury and committed a war crime against the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society it that it deliberately changed course at full speed and smashed purposely into the SSCS trimaran Ady Gill and caused said vehicle to sink into the ocean, causing injury to one crew man (broken ribs), and just barely missing killing all six crew members. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is in the area protecting the whales from being killed by the Japanese whaling Fleet and is not guilty of any criminal act but is upholding international laws that are legitimate and meant to give sanctuary to the endangered whales. Numerous international laws are being upheld by SSCS.
Let us look at the International Laws of the Sea that Sea Shepherd is actively supporting, 1) IWC--- The International Whaling Commission, this commission has put in practice an international whaling Moratorium against Commercial Whaling since 1986 and on going to the present. Nobody believes that Japan's Whaling Industry's setting of over a thousand endangered whales to be killed each and every years is merely done for research---this is in fact illegal lawless commercial whaling condemned globally by the majority of nations, CITIES---the United Nations resolution against killing endangered animals globally and especially sea mammals and Whales, Porpoises, and Seals, along with other sea wildlife, 3) The Southern Ocean Whale Sanctury, which is the worldwide democracy of mercy to the whales, done after centuries of killing them to near extinction and in fact sever species of whales were extincted, 4) The EEZ----Austrialian and French Economic Exclusion Zones, that these countries disallow the killing of whales by the Japanese Whaling Fleet. Expressed in an Austrialian Supreme Court Order and the Antarctic French scientists stationed on the continent of Antarctica. There are numerous other organizations that are working in support of the world web of life and they are in the thousands and too numerous to mention here. All however are legitimately in favour of the Whales being protected and not killed by Japanese or any other Nations commerical whaling fleets.
The destruction of the Ady Gill is a willfull and illegal act of Imperialist aggression against a legal world recongnized conservation society and is a break with world law on the question of protecting the endangered whales. Further does Japan recognize that the slaughter of Porpoises by the tens of thousands each year at Taji, and the feeding of the meat to the elementary free lunch program is the feeding of mercury and other toxic poisons of the Porpoises' meat that sickens their children and has in cases shown deaths door to them. This is not the fault of the porpoises and the children. It is the fault of the Japanese authorities doing such evil and incorrect practice. In all countries of the world the feeding of poison to Children which shortens their healthy lives is considered a---WAR CRIME. We hope therefore the the Japanese government will stop subsidizing both these events and stop committing illegal acts of violence against the anti-fascist covenants of the world to which the vast majority are signed on to in great belief in the goodness of the planet and its living web of life. Viva Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Life to the living world. Japan cease pollution of the air, land, water, plants, animals and peoples. Quit the wrongheadedness of destroy the living world for money.
John East