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CANBERRA - The Japanese whaling fleet says protest ship the Steve Irwin is deliberately avoiding its attempts to hand over two detained crew members.
Benjamin Potts, 28, of Sydney, and Giles Lane, 35, from Britain, were held after boarding the Japanese harpoon vessel Yushin Maru No 2 yesterday to deliver a written plea to stop killing whales.
Australia's Foreign Minister Stephen Smith earlier said Japan had agreed to release the pair, after the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and embassy officials in Tokyo approached the Japanese government.
But this afternoon, Japan's Institute for Cetacean Research (ICR) claimed the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessel was trying to prolong the controversy.
Institute spokesman Glenn Inwood said phone calls and emails to the Steve Irwin to arrange the handover since the diplomatic agreement was reached had been unsuccessful.
"I believe that they want to continue this for as long as possible," Mr Inwood told Sky News, referring to the media coverage of the incident.
Australia's Foreign Minister Stephen Smith this morning told ABC radio that the Japanese government had instructed the relevant whaling ship to return the men to their protest ship.
"The most important thing here is the safety and welfare of the two men concerned and we do as the Australian government want their immediate release.
"My most recent advice, which is in the last hour, is that that transfer has not yet occurred and I'm calling upon both parties, both the Steve Irwin and Sea Shepherd and the Japanese whaling vessel, to effect immediately their safe return of the two men concerned."
In its statement this afternoon, ICR spokesman also denied the two men had been mistreated on the Yashin Maru, saying they had been given hot meals, a bath and had a good night's sleep.
"They were restrained for a short period (on deck) before being taken to an office," Mr Inwood said.
"It was the only way, you couldn't have them running around the deck not knowing what they're going to do.
"They're highly unpredictable people and it was that they were restrained for a short period.
Mr Inwood said the Japanese had displayed tolerance in the face of illegal activity by the Steve Irwin, whose activists had a right to protest but not police the whaling.
"Because Japan's research is legal obviously they're the ones who've broken the law.
"They are just a group of vigilantes seeking publicity and out to cause as much damage as they can."
He said the Japanese would be considering follow-up legal action against the activists.
Paul Watson, the captain of the Steve Irwin, this morning said both the activists were assaulted and tied up once they had boarded the ship from an inflatable boat.
"They assaulted them, they tied them to the rails and actually at one point those rails went under water up to their waists," Mr Watson told AAP.
"Then they came back and untied them and brought them up to the top deck and tied them for a couple of hours to the radar masts, and then they brought them inside the vessel and we haven't seen them since."
"I was a little surprised. I expected the Japanese to have treated them a little more decently.
"In fact, they tried to throw Benjamin overboard and he had to struggle to stop being thrown overboard because the boat was travelling at 17 knots (30km/h) and it would have been extremely dangerous," he said.
"It's a serious situation. They have been kidnapped and held against their will."
The Institute for Cetacean Research said the pair had tried to entangle the screw (propeller) of the vessel using ropes and had thrown bottles of acid onto its decks.
Mr Watson confirmed said a substance he described as "rancid butter acid, a stink bomb" was thrown by others in the inflatable craft onto the deck of the Japanese vessel to disrupt the crew and slow the vessel.
The Green Party called for a New Zealand frigate to be sent into Antarctic waters following the activists' detention.
Green Party Conservation spokesperson Metiria Turei said the situation was unprecedented and could "escalate to a situation where lives are put in direct danger".
"The New Zealand Government has sat on their hands for too long and must now put the safety of both the activists and the whalers ahead of other concerns," she said.
"A frigate is the only way of ensuring that neutral observers can provide evidence in any further court proceedings, and that cool heads are present now personal safety has become a very serious concern."
Duty minister Rick Barker earlier said the New Zealand Government was concerned about the situation.
"We understand that Australian officials are urgently looking into it and we hope the situation in the Southern Ocean can be resolved without further confrontation.
"Protesters heading to the isolated Southern Ocean are aware of the risks they take getting involved in such action and we hope that any acts of provocation that could endanger lives could be avoided," Mr Barker said.
The incident occurred just inside the Australian Antarctic Sanctuary near the intersection of the co-ordinates 60 degrees south and 78 degrees east, Mr Watson said.
The area is about 4000km from Fremantle and 4500km from the South African city of Cape Town, he said.
Australian Federal Police are investigating the incident.
- AAP
