反捕鯨団体の2名を拘束、で注目を集めるにほん。

A British anti-whaling protester was detained on board a Japanese harpoon ship last night after storming the vessel in an attempt to scupper Japan’s controversial whale hunt.
Giles Lane, 35, and an Australian activist, Benjamin Potts, 28, members of the militant environmental group Sea Shepherd, were held after throwing acid bombs and ropes to forcibly board the Yushin Maru No 2, Japanese officials said.
Colleagues on board Sea Shepherd’s Steve Irwin flagship claimed that the pair had been taken hostage, beaten and tied to a railing, a claim vehemently denied by the Japanese. However, photographs show Mr Potts tied up with a rope and tethered to railings along the ship’s deck.

英国人の反捕鯨活動家が昨夜、日本による捕鯨を阻止しようと船に乗り込もうとして捕捉された。攻撃的な環境団体シー・シェパードに属するオーストラリア人と英国人の2名は、ゆうしん丸に乗り込もうとロープや酸の入った弾を投げた後、捕捉されたと日本政府関係者が発表した。
シー・シェパードの船の乗組員は、彼は捕捉され、殴られ、縛りつけられたと主張しているが、日本側は否定している。写真では、ポッツ氏は船のデッキの桟にロープで縛られているように見える。

で、彼らは解放される予定だったはずなんですが、未だもめてる模様。

Stalemate over whale 'pirate-hostages'

"The ICR (Institute of Cetacean Research) is ready to release the two intruders provided that full security can be secured for our research vessel. Sea Shepherd is a very violent organisation," Moronuki said.
"ICR has to escape from any dangerous activities from Sea Shepherd. If Sea Shepherd promises ICR not to conduct any dangerous, illegal activities, ICR is willing to release the two illegal intruders immediately."
Asked if whalers would continue to hold the men if Sea Shepherd continued their protest he said: "Yes, we must for security reasons."
He refused to say whether Potts and Lane would ultimately be taken back to Japan if anti-whaling protests continued.
The captain of the main Sea Shepherd vessel the Steve Irwin, society founder Paul Watson, earlier said he had no intention of bowing to Japan's demands.
He said the conditions on their return included that his group stop filming, photographing and protesting against the whalers, and that the pair be retrieved by a small boat 10 nautical miles from the Steve Irwin.
"It endangers the life of the crew, to put them out in these waters in a small boat, 10 miles out of view. So I am not going to meet these demands," Watson said.
"When you hold hostages and make demands, that is the definition of a terrorist organisation, and that is the way they are acting," Watson said.
"We are not going to cease and desist from interfering in their illegal whaling activities as a condition."
Moronuki said the filming and photographing of the crew was illegal because it constituted harassment of the Japanese whaling fleet.
He said the small boat needed to be far from the main Sea Shepherd vessel to pick up the men for security reasons.
"Sea Shepherd has been conducting very dangerous illegal activities and I cordially ask them to refrain from those dangerous activities," Moronuki said.

このニュースだと、水産庁資源管理部捕鯨班の諸貫氏ってのがすごい強気に見えるんだよね。
諸貫氏：シー・シェパードはとても暴力的な組織だ。調査船の安全が確保されない限り、2人は解放できない。もし抗議を続けるなら、２人はこのままだ。抗議が続行された場合に、2人を日本に連れてゆくかは返答できない。船の乗員を撮影することは、捕鯨船を侮辱することで、違法だ。
シー・シェパード代表ワトソン氏：日本の要求には屈しない（撮影の禁止、本船と１０マイルはなれたところで引き渡し）。こんな離れたところでの引き渡しは危険なので受け入れられない。人質を取って、要求を出すのはテロリストのやることだ。

なんとか日本とオーストラリア政府で話し合って、納めてもらいたいです。

個人的には、もう３０年くらいクジラ肉食べてませんし、これからも別段ほしくありませんね。こんなにもめてまで捕鯨を守らなきゃならんのか、最近ますます分かんない。

靖国参拝の時も思ったけど、国際的な非難を毅然と拒否する姿勢にうっとりしてるだけで、その姿勢のもたらす結果はどーでもいいのかな、と。一瞬のうっとりのためにもっと大きなものを失ってもいいのかねえ。