Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson is released after 5 months in a Greenland prison

LONDON (AP) — Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson was freed from prison in Greenland on Tuesday and will not be extradited to Japan after five months in custody.

He is planning to return home to be reunited with his family during the festive season, he told The Associated Press upon his release.

“I’m certainly quite relieved," Watson, 74, said during a video interview from Nuuk, Greenland's capital. "This gives me an opportunity to return home to my two children before Christmas.”

Japan had asked Denmark to extradite Watson, who had been in custody in Greenland since his arrest under a Japanese warrant. There was no immediate comment from the Japanese Embassy in Copenhagen.

Watson's foundation said he faced a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison in Japan, which does not have an extradition treaty with Denmark.

On his way back to France, where he has settled, Watson said he will be careful not to be caught again.

“I have to make sure that I don’t land in Iceland or another country where Interpol might try to have me arrested again,” he said. “Apparently, the red notice is still there," he added, in a reference to the system which flags people deemed fugitives to law enforcement worldwide and is one of the crime-fighting organization's most important tools.

The Canadian-American citizen is a former head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, whose high seas confrontations with whaling vessels have drawn support from celebrities and featured in the reality television series “Whale Wars.”

Japan’s coast guard had sought his arrest over an encounter with a Japanese whaling research ship in 2010 when he was accused of obstructing the crew’s official duties by ordering the captain of his ship to throw explosives at the whaling ship.

Watson denied the accusation.

“Well, it’s a total fabrication. We never used explosives. Ever. We did use stink bombs, which are quite harmless,” he said.

Watson was subject to an Interpol red notice, and the captain — a New Zealand citizen — was convicted of assault and given a suspended prison term, which allowed him to leave Japan.

Watson was arrested on July 21 when his ship docked in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital. Japan had asked Denmark to hand over Watson so he could be tried in Japan. Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark.

“I think it all backfired on Japan, because this has put enormous focus on Japan’s continued illegal whaling operations," Watson said. "So my time here for five months has actually served a purpose. It’s been an opportunity to continue to expose Japan’s illegal whaling activities.”

The Danish Justice Ministry said in a statement that the conditions for extradition were met, but it had not received adequate guarantees from Japanese authorities that the time Watson had already served in custody would be counted against any sentence he would receive in Japan.

Watson left Sea Shepherd in 2022 to set up his foundation, which alleged at the time of his arrest that the action was politically motivated — and called for his release.

He was detained in Germany in 2012 on a Costa Rican extradition warrant but skipped bail after learning that he was also sought for extradition by Japan, which has accused him of endangering whalers’ lives during his operations in the Antarctic Ocean. He has since lived in countries including France and the United States.

He pledged to continue fighting.

“I’ve had five months of not really doing much, so I’m not really tired,” he said. “But we have a ship, being prepared, to oppose Icelandic whaling operations in June next year. And we have a ship in Australia that is ready to intervene against Japan if they return to the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary. So we’re prepared to take action when we need to.”

Japan's says whale meat is part of its food culture and that it supports sustainable use of whales. Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission in 2019 and has since resumed commercial whaling within its exclusive economic zone.

“Whaling only continues to exist in Japan through massive subsidies,” Watson claimed. “In fact, $30 million from the tsunami relief fund was channeled into the whaling industry after 2011. So, you know, this does not benefit the Japanese people at all in any way, shape or form. In fact, what it is is an embarrassment to the Japanese people.”

Associated Press Writers Jamey Keaten and David Keyton contributed to this report.

FILE - Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson, founder of the Oregon-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, testifies during a contempt of court hearing in federal court, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Karen Ducey, Pool, FILE)

FILE - People demonstrate to support Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson, known for his decades-long fight against Japanese whaling and arrested in Greenland, and who has asked France's president for political asylum, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte, File)

FILE - In this May 23, 2012 file picture Paul Watson, founder and President of the animal rights and environmental group Sea Shepherd Conservation takes part in a demonstration against the Costa Rican government near Germany's Presidential residence during a visit of Costa Rica's president Laura Chinchilla in Berlin, Germany. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) — The New York architect facing murder charges in a string of deaths known as the Gilgo Beach killings was charged on Tuesday in the death of a seventh woman.

Rex Heuermann was charged with killing Valerie Mack, whose remains were first found on Long Island in 2000. Mack, 24, had been working as an escort in Philadelphia and was last seen by her family that year in New Jersey.

Mack’s partial skeletal remains were first found in Manorville, New York, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of where more of her remains were discovered on Gilgo Beach more than 10 years later. They were unidentified until genetic testing revealed her identity in 2020.

Human hair found with Mack’s remains was sent for testing earlier this year and found to be a likely match with the genetic profile of Heuermann’s daughter, prosecutors said in court papers. His daughter is not accused of any wrongdoing and would have been three or four years old when Mack died.

Appearing on Tuesday in a courtroom in Riverhead, New York, Heuermann told the judge: “I’m not guilty of any of these charges, your honor.”

The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office was expected to hold a news conference alongside local and state law enforcement following the court appearance.

Heuermann is charged with killing six other women whose remains were found on Long Island.

The investigation into the Gilgo Beach killings dates back to 2010, when police searching for a missing woman found 10 sets of human remains in the scrub along a barrier island parkway, prompting fears of a serial killer.

Over the years, investigators used DNA analysis and other clues to identify the victims, many of whom were sex workers. In some cases, they connected them to remains found elsewhere on Long Island years earlier. Police also began reexamining other unsolved killings of women found dead on Long Island.

The case has dragged on through five police commissioners, more than 1,000 tips and doubts about whether there was a serial killer at all.

Heuermann, who lived with his wife and two children in Massapequa Park on Long Island and commuted to a Manhattan architecture office, was arrested on July 13, 2023, and charged with murdering Amber Lynn Costello, Megan Waterman and Melissa Barthelemy. He was charged in the deaths of three other women — Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Sandra Costilla and Jessica Taylor — earlier this year. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

In a June court filing, prosecutors said they had recovered a file on a hard drive in Heuermann’s basement that he used to “methodically blueprint” his killings — including checklists with tasks to tick off before, during and afterwards, as well as lessons for “next time.”

In court papers on Tuesday, prosecutors said the document, which was created the same year as Mack’s murder, includes details that align with her case.

For example, it names “Mill Road” — a road near where Mack’s first remains were found — under the heading “DS,” which investigators believe stands for “dump site.”

The document also lists “foam drain cleaner” under “Supplies.” Prosecutors say that on Oct. 3, 2000, Heuermann’s phone records appear to show him making two calls to a Long Island plumbing company, and he paid another company the following month to check his mainline drain.

In recent searches of Heuermann’s home and office, authorities say they found old magazines and newspapers with articles about the Gilgo Beach killings and investigation that prosecutors believe he kept as “souvenirs” or “mementos.” Among them was a July 29, 2003 copy of the New York Post that included an article about the disappearance and deaths of Mack and Taylor.

Prosecutors are also looking into the death of Karen Vergata, whose remains were first discovered in 1996 and finally identified in 2022 after a new DNA analysis.

In September, authorities released new renderings of an unidentified victim who was found in 2011. Officials said the victim, who for years they had identified as male, may have presented outwardly as female and died in 2006.

FILE - This undated photo provided by the Suffolk County, New York, Police Department, Thursday May 28, 2020, shows Valerie Mack who went missing in 2000. The New York architect accused in a string of deaths known as the Gilgo Beach killings has been charged in the death of a seventh woman. Rex Heuermann was charged Tuesday with killing Valerie Mack. (Suffolk County Police Department via AP, File)

FILE - Rex Heuermann, center, charged in the Gilgo Beach serial killings on Long Island, appears for a hearing, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, N.Y. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, File, Pool)

FILE - Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney speaks to reporters during a news conference in Riverhead, N.Y., Thursday, June 6, 2024. Rex Heuermann, the New York architect accused of killing four women and leaving their bodies near Long Island's Gilgo Beach, has been accused in the deaths of two more women. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)