New Zealand leader says he can't help anti-whaling activist

Mar 14, 2010, 22:20 GMT

Wellington - New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said Monday the government could not intervene in Japan's legal processes to help anti-whaling activist Peter Bethune, who faces a three-year prison sentence for trespassing.

Bethune, 44, was arrested in Tokyo on Friday when the whaling ship Shonan Maru II he climbed aboard in Antarctic waters in mid-February docked.

He was protesting the loss of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's high speed trimaran Ady Gil, which sank after a collision with the Shonan Maru II in the Southern Ocean.

Bethune was captain of the Ady Gil and he accused the Japanese boat's skipper of attempting to murder the six people aboard.

Key told Television New Zealand that Bethune was going to be charged 'across a range of different sort of breaches of the law, potentially.

'Peter Bethune is obviously a person who cares deeply about what he's doing,' Key said. 'He's also a person who made it quite clear when he got on board that boat that he didn't want to be taken off, he did want to be taken to Japan.

'So clearly he has thought all this through and has thought the exposure that he will get for this warrants his activities.'

Key said there was little the government could do other than offer the usual consular support given to New Zealand citizens in difficulties overseas.

'We can't actually interfere in the Japanese legal process.'

Bethune's eldest daughter, Danielle, had her 15th birthday Sunday, unsure when she would next see her father, the New Zealand Herald reported.

The arrested man's father, Don Bethune, told the paper that his wife, Sharyn, was showing 'remarkable resilience' through the tough time, which had been a struggle for the family emotionally and financially, he said. They have another daughter Alycia, 13.