Jailed seal protesters to be deported back to Europe

[witchcurlgirl]

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

CREDIT: ReutersPaul Watson (L), Head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Alexander Cornelissen (R), Captain of the Farley Mowat, and First Officer Peter Hammarstedt leave the Cape Breton correctional facility in Reserve Mines, Nova Scotia, April 14, 2008, after Cornelissen and Hammarstedt were released on bail.Two European activists will be deported to their home countries Friday after being arrested earlier this week and jailed for allegedly getting too close to the seal hunt in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, one of the protesters said Wednesday.
"I'm still a bit shocked by the whole sort of ordeal," said Peter Hammarstedt, 23, the first officer of the anti-sealing vessel, the Farley Mowat. "Once again the thing we're being accused of doing is allegedly being within a half a nautical mile of someone skinning a seal alive and for that Canada deports us."

"Not only that but they storm our ship with pretty much SWAT team storm troopers on international waters, force us into this country at gunpoint, then force us back out."

Hammarstedt is a Swedish national and Alexander Cornelissen, of Amsterdam, is the captain of the Farley Mowat. Last week, the ship was carrying 17 members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The group, whose head office is in Washington, D.C., maintains it was in international waters legally observing Canada's seal hunt.

However, the two men were arrested and appeared in a Sydney, N.S., courtroom on Monday on charges of approaching within one-half nautical mile of a seal hunt without a permit.

They were released on $10,000 bail and on condition they keep the peace and maintain a distance of five nautical miles from the seal hunt. Their next court appearance is scheduled for May 1 but the two are now expected to be deported Friday. Hammarstedt says he understands they can be represented at the hearing by their lawyer.
The Dutch-registered ship remains docked in Sydney, in the possession of the Canadian government. Fisheries officers armed with search warrants spent the day on board the ship looking for evidence, while some of the anti-sealing activists were allowed on board to gather personal possessions.

The owner of the ship, Paul Watson, said Wednesday he plans to go to court get the Farley Mowat back.

"I believe that the government's caused some damage to it. They're going to give me back that ship. They're going to give it back to me in first class working order, they way it was taken, otherwise we'll sue them."

Neither the Department of Fisheries nor Transport Canada will say what will be done with the vessel.

Hammarstedt said he plans to go "straight to my Department of Foreign Affairs in Stockholm," when he gets back to Sweden.
"It's all about silencing any sort of dissent and it's all about keeping Europeans off the ice because of the vote in Europe about the ban on seal products," he said. "I know that we have tremendous support there and we've been getting a lot of media attention in Europe so I'm hoping to keep drumming up some of that."

A spokesman for Fisheries and Oceans Minister Loyola Hearn declined to comment Wednesday, referring calls on the deportations instead to the Canada Border Services Agency, which said it could not discuss individual cases.

- with files from Global News

Jailed sealing protesters to be deported back to Europe

[Grimmlok]

If i owned that ship, and was in international waters, I would ensure that my crew was fully armed with automatic weapons and that ANY illegal boardings in contravention of maritime law (specifically, piracy) would be met with all deliberate deadly force I had at my disposal. I would not fuck around. I would shoot anybody who tried to get on my boat without authorization and I would be perfectly within my rights to do so, government employees or not.

If the RCMP or the Canadian coast guard DID board that vessel by force in international waters, they committed piracy and should be brought to heel THIS INSTANT, charged, thrown in jail, and the countries of the men jailed should demand immediate reparations from the Canadian government.

Frankly, I don't understand why privately owned ships like these aren't armed to the teeth to defend themselves from shit like this. I would have no qualms about sinking a coast guard ship if they tried to board my vessel in international waters. They would be in contravention of maritime law and committing an act of piracy.