Tuesday 10 January 2012

Kyodo News states three protesters aboard the Shonan Maru 2 to be transferred to Australian custody



Headline in Kyodo News online on 9 January 2012:



ABC News reports on 10 January:


Could it possibly be that the Government of Japan, besides objecting to the boarding of its own coast guard-manned ship, the Shonan Maru 2, was also less than impressed with the fact that this ship had decided to leave the whaling fleet as it approached the Antarctic killing grounds and come so close to mainland Australia in order to harass the MY Steve Irwin?

UPDATE:

According to the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun on 9 January 2012:

Attorney General Nicola Roxon said she hoped a deal could be reached with Japanese authorities to release the three.
"We are representing our views most strongly that they should be released promptly and returned to Australian soil," Roxon said.
In addition, the attorney general also said the ministry patrol ship, which is providing security to the whaling vessels, is not welcome in Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone.
"The ship, people need to remember, is not directly involved in whaling activities, but it is clearly providing a support role, and that may give us some other options if it was trying to come into our territorial waters," she said.

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