Via Japan Probe comes news that the Sea Shepherd leader Paul Watson may find it a little more difficult to travel around if the Japanese government can convince Interpol to cooperate in arresting this guy:

Japan is seeking an international arrest warrant for the head of anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd over high-seas clashes in Antarctic waters, media reports said Friday.

Tokyo will seek Interpol’s help to arrest Canadian Paul Watson for ordering his crew to harass whaling ships in clashes in which Japanese crew were allegedly injured by rancid butter projectiles, broadcaster NHK reported.

Watson, speaking in New York, said “the arrest warrant is just totally political, it’s nothing. I’m not concerned, and Interpol is not going to extradite me on a politically motivated charge.”

“We save whales and we are going to continue to go down to the Southern Ocean,” the 59-year-old environmental campaigner and captain of the group’s Steve Irwin vessel told reporters in comments broadcast in Japan.

The reported arrest warrant and Interpol request, which the Japan Coast Guard declined to confirm, are the latest move in a long-running battle between Japan and the U.S.-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.  [China Post]

This arrest warrant will probably end up being enforced similar to when Paul Watson was arrested last year in Portugal.  If the Japanese really want to arrest him they will have to grab him themselves more than likely.

What else was interesting was that in the article it said the Japanese were still holding Sea Shepherd member Peter Bethune who they arrested for illegally boarding a Japanese whaling ship and has yet to stand trial.  It will be interesting how much time this guy ends up spending in jail.