Bardot Offers To Take Prison For Watson

Screen legend and animal-rights campaigner Brigitte Bardot has offered to take Canadian conservation activist Paul Watson's place in prison, saying she was "outraged" by his arrest in Germany.

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"I offer to take his place because I am his accomplice," said the 77-year-old Bardot after the Sea Shepherd Society founder was detained.

"I have always supported Paul Watson, my brother in arms," she said.

A German court Monday ordered Watson, 61, to remain in custody after his arrest on a warrant from Costa Rica where he is accused of endangering a shark-finning ship's crew during a 2002 confrontation.

Watson was passing through Frankfurt on his way to France to attend conferences when he was arrested.

Meanwhile, Sea Shepherd called on German officials to halt the "politically motivated push" to have Watson extradited to Costa Rica.

Costa Rica has confirmed it still intends to proceed with the extradition request. The court could issue a preliminary arrest for the Toronto-born activist at the upcoming hearing, said Sea Shepherd spokesman Peter Hammarstedt.

That would allow Ger-man authorities to hold Watson for 90 days while the extradition process officially begins.

"There's no way he will get a fair trial in Costa Rica, that's just not going to hap-pen," Hammarstedt said.

"Our biggest hope right now is that we get the federal minister of justice in Ger-many to intervene."

Watson is wanted in Costa Rica for allegedly endangering a fishing boat while filming a documentary in 2002.

Sea Shepherd said it encountered an illegal shark-finning operation run by a Costa Rican ship.

Shark-finning involves capturing sharks, cutting off their fins before throwing them back into the sea where they drown.