Protestors taken hostage by whalers

Two activists from the protest vessel, named, Steve Irwin, were allegedly taken hostage by the crew of a Japanese whaler, and apparently tied to the mast of a Japanese whaling ship,Yashin Maru 2, in the Southern Ocean, on Tuesday.

The two, Australian national, Benjamin Potts and, British national Giles Lane, boarded the Japanese vessel to give the captain a letter advising him that he was “illegally killing whales”, after delivering the message, they apparently were not allowed to leave the ship, and the vessel headed away from the “Steve Irwin”.

Japan’s Institute for Cetacean Research later confirmed the men were on board, and had been, detained in a locked room on the ship. He further denied that the men had been “tied up”.

Furthermore, the Institute’s director-general, Minoru Morimoto, stated that “Any accusations that we have tied them up or assaulted them are completely untrue.”

He continued, “It is illegal to board another country’s vessels on the high seas. As a result, at this stage, they are being held in custody while decisions are made on their future,” “The two boarded the Yushin Maru No. 2 after they made attempts to entangle the screw of the vessel using ropes and throwing bottles of acid onto the decks.”

The Sea Shepherd group, in whose name the “Steve Irwin” is registered, called on “Australia and Britain to demand the immediate release of the two crew members.”

The Sea Shepherd, anti-whaling group has been searching for the Japanese whaling fleet in Antarctic waters stated it had come across the five whaling ships on Tuesday and was pursuing them.

“We will hound these poachers for as long as we can and when we catch up with them we will disable their equipment and do everything physically possible short of inflicting injury on the crew in order to stop their illegal activities,” Paul Watson the captain of the “Steve Irwin” said in a statement.