Greenpeace demonstration for the release of whale activists held in Japan

Greenpeace Japan activists currently being help by the Japanese authorities for exposing the scandal over stolen whale meat. On Monday, June 30th at noon, our entire DC staff will going to the Japanese embassy on Mass Ave. to show our support and we are inviting all of you to join us. This event will be legal and peaceful with no props or other actions, just a concerned group of Americans asking for their immediate release.

Greenpeace Japan staff members and activists Junichi Sato & Toru Suzuki are being held without charge for exposing a stolen whale meat scandal in Japan. Under Japanese law they can be held without charge for 23 days. After this time they must be charged or released. If they are released, this does not necessarily mean the case will have been dropped - they could be released on bail. Charges can still be brought under Japanese law up to seven years after the initial investigation is begun. Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki were arrested on Friday June 20th during a heavy-handed police operation involving raids on the Greenpeace office in Japan and the homes of a number of Greenpeace staff. A number of weeks earlier both had already offered to present themselves to police and had submitted written statements describing how they obtained evidence of a major whale meat theft scandal, including a box of whale meat, which had been smuggled off the whaling factory ship, the Nisshin Maru, by crew members, disguised as crew members' personal possessions.

Details of the dossier and background story can be found at: http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/whale-meat-scandal-dossier.pdf
Since their arrest there has been a politically motivated and manipulated media backlash. Confidential details of their statements to police made over a month ago have been leaked to the press - while neither has been charged with any crime. They and Greenpeace are being tried by the media, not by the courts.