http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=c7ce489e-4757-460a-ab8c-4d7b8aee655b

Japan orders whalers to free 2 Sea Shepherd hostages
Tied up, dunked in freezing water

Reuters

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

CANBERRA -- Japanese authorities have ordered the release of two anti-whaling activists being held after boarding a Japanese whaling vessel in the Southern Ocean, Australia's government said yesterday.

Australian Benjamin Potts and Briton Giles Lane, from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessel Steve Irwin, boarded the Japanese whaling ship Yushin Maru No. 2 to advise the crew they were illegally killing whales.

Australia's foreign minister, Stephen Smith, said Australian diplomats in Tokyo had asked the Japanese government to seek the immediate and safe release of the pair.

"Late last night I was advised that the Japanese had agreed to this and they have instructed the relevant whaling ship to return the men to the Steve Irwin," Smith said.

The anti-whaling group said the pair were tied to a radar mast and dunked in icy water before being taken below decks. Japanese fishing authorities accused the pair of piracy and illegally boarding another vessel on the high seas.

Smith, whose new Labour government has pledged a tougher line with Japan on whaling, said the transfer had not yet occurred and Australian police were investigating claims of illegal action.

Japan plans to hunt almost 1,000 minke and fin whales for research over the Antarctic summer, but has abandoned the cull of 50 humpback whales after international condemnation and a formal diplomatic protest by 31 nations.
© The Vancouver Province 2008