Anti-whaling protesters held on Japanese ship

TWO anti-whaling protestors, were held on a Japanese whaling ship yesterday after boarding it in a protest.

The men, from the environmental group Sea Shepherd which has been tailing ships involved in Japan’s annual whale hunt, forced their way on to the Yushin Maru No 2 and were being held in the ship’s office, Japan’s Institute for Cetacean Research said.

It denied claims by Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson the two were assaulted and tied to a mast.

“Any accusations that we have tied them up or assaulted them are completely untrue,” said institute chief Minoru Morimoto.

The two boarded the Yushin Maru “illegally” after attempting to “entangle the crew of the vessel using ropes and throwing bottles of acid onto the decks,” said Mr Morimoto.

“They are being held in custody while decisions are made on their future.”

Mr Watson claimed earlier the two men — Australian Benjamin Potts, 28, and Briton Giles Lane, 35 — were assaulted and bound to the ship’s radar mast.

Mr Watson said the men were trying to deliver a letter to the Japanese ship’s captain “to inform them they were illegally killing whales” in Antarctic waters. He said the crew would “do everything physically possible short of inflicting injury” to stop the hunt.

Photographs released by the group appeared to show two Western-looking men tied with rope to the railing of an unidentified ship.

The boarding was the latest in a string of disputes between anti-whaling activists and the Japanese fleet both on the high seas and in the courts.