Whaling cause 'worth jail risk'

TOKYO - A New Zealand activist is willing to risk a prison term in a foreign country to get his anti-whaling message to the world, his lawyer says.

"He is willing to take the risk - the risk of incarceration in prison in Japan," Dan Harris, counsel for Ady Gil skipper Peter Bethune, told the Herald as the 45-year-old's trial began in Tokyo District Court yesterday.

And Bethune got a rough reception from protesters outside the court.

"Peter Bethune is a terrorist - Peter Bethune must hang," Shuhei Nishimura, leader of the right-wing Society to Seek Restoration of Sovereignty, screeched into a megaphone.

"Terrorist, terrorist!" echoed his crew of about 20 followers, who brandished placards and waved Japanese flags in a stand-off with riot police in starched blue uniforms and combat boots.

The group - dismissed by some as part of Japan's lunatic fringe - regard any attempt to stop whaling as a Western attack on traditional Japanese culture.

As a result, they are incensed by Bethune's boarding of the Shonan Maru 2 whaling ship in Antarctic waters in February, which they consider to be an act of war.

Bethune has been accused of trespass, possession of a weapon, damage to property and obstructing commercial activity - charges which could lead to up to 15 years' jail.

The court hearing is arguably the trial of the decade in Japan and is being widely reported on TV and in the newspapers.

More than 400 members of the public lined up for a ballot to get one of the 18 seats in the court's public gallery.

Mr Harris said that although Bethune would admit to certain acts - such as boarding the vessel - to do so was not the same as pleading guilty.

"Whaling is illegal under international law and Peter was seeking to enforce the law. In terms of what he did being a crime, well then he is not guilty of anything," the lawyer said.

The defence team would encourage the court to look at the wider issues around the whaling debate, and ask it to focus on why Bethune did what he did. "He was trying to stop whaling."

Mr Harris and legal adviser Steve Dickinson both visited Bethune on Wednesday at his holding prison in Tokyo - where the men had to communicate through a glass barrier.

Mr Dickinson said Bethune told him: "No matter what happens, what was done is worth it, if it slowed down whaling and publicised it to the world."

Japanese prisons - although relatively drug- and violence-free compared with those in the West - are notorious for their strict daily regimes, where every aspect of an inmate's life is controlled.

Mr Dickinson said the holding facility seemed to lack some of the harshness of a proper prison. He said Bethune was in good spirits. "He is looking forward to the opportunity to tell his side of the story."

THE JAPANESE LEGAL SYSTEM
* Defendants don't have to enter guilty or not-guilty pleas.
* Even if an accused admits guilt, it does not necessarily mean he is pleading guilty, and the prosecutor must still provide evidence.
* Both sides present evidence before the judge in court and the accused can admit to or agree with certain facts.
* Jury trials are rare in Japan, with hearings usually presided over by up to three judges.