Kelly McParland: Sea Shepherd’s Paul Watson flees Germany, treating the law with his usual contempt

Paul Watson, the self-aggrandizing Toronto-born founder of the Sea Shepherd Society, is officially a fugitive from justice.

Watson skipped bail in Germany and has disappeared, according to German officials. He was arrested there two months ago at the request of Costa Rica, which wants him on charges of endangering the crew of a fishing vessel that was rammed by Watson’s boat. Japan, which has long sought Watson over his numerous attacks on Japanese vessels, is also believed to be seeking extradition. In jumping bail. Watson left behind his passport and forfeited bail of more than $300,000.

His flight should probably not come as a surprise. Watson, an extremist too fanatical for his former colleagues at Greenpeace, regularly treats human life as a secondary concern and the law as an inconvenience. He revels in his image as a seaborn buccaneer campaigning to rid the world of the whaling industry by whatever means necessary, and has glamourized his activities successfully enough to attract financial support from well-meaning backers and shallow Hollywood types willing to ignore his tactics and contempt for the safety of others.

Watson was being sought by Costa Rica after ramming a boat he claimed was hunting sharks for their fins. He claimed he was acting on the authority of the Guatemalan government, but fled when Guatemala sent gunboats to intercept his ship. Charged with attempted murder, he fled again until being arrested in Germany. Now he insists the charges are politically motivated and he will be killed if returned to Costa Rica.

There is a lot in Watson that brings to mind another self-appointed crusader and fanatic, Julian Assange, who is holed up in an embassy in London, trying to avoid extradition to Sweden on rape charges. Both men see themselves as champions of justice who are above normal legal standards, justify their actions on self-serving criteria, display overt signs of paranoia and megalomania, and are terrified of ever facing the cost of their actions. Neither does their cause much good by treating it as a tool for their personal glory.

National Post