Denmark frees whaling activist Paul Watson after Japan extradition request

Paul Watson. Picture: Alamy/PA

Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson has been freed from prison in Denmark and will not be extradited to Japan, his lawyer said.

Tokyo had asked Denmark to extradite Watson who had been in custody in Greenland since his arrest this summer under a Japanese warrant.

Mr Watson, a 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.