Since Junichi and Toru were arrested in 2008 for exposing a scandal that rocked the Japanese whaling industry – over half a million calls for justice have been made in support of their actions.
After Junichi and Toru were arrested – nearly 300,000 of you called for their immediate release and demanded that the official investigation, into the corruption they exposed, be re-opened. 85,000 of you even went so far as to demand the Japanese government arrest you too for assisting Junichi and Toru in opposing the scandal and corruption of Japan’s whaling program in the Southern Ocean. You told Japan that if they are going to start rounding up political prisoners for the crime of defending whales – that they will need to arrest a great many people around the world!
And earlier this year we launched the "Whale Trial Pledge" – which has been signed by 200,000 of you as "co-defendants." In addition to calling for a fair trial – you asked again for the official investigation to be re-opened.
Today – as the Japanese whaling factory ship, the Nisshin Maru, returned from hunting whales in the Southern Ocean – all of these pledges were submitted to the Public Inquest Committee (PIC) in Japan. They were filed along with our request for the Japanese government to re-open its investigation into the whale industry’s corruption which our activists Junichi and Toru worked so hard and risked so much to expose.
We’re highlighting both the ongoing scandal of Japan’s whale hunt in an internationally recognized whale sanctuary and the international community’s failure to deal with Japan’s unscrupulous behavior at the International Whaling Commission.
We’re hoping the Japanese Government will hear the sound of over half a million global voices loud and clear! Junichi handed over all the names of people who signed the Whale Trial Pledge today to show the PIC that it’s not just a small group of activists in Japan who are calling for the re-opening of the whale meat investigation – it’s a whole lot more!
Want to learn more about tax-deductible giving, donating stock and estate planning?
Visit Greenpeace Fund, a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) charitable entity created to increase public awareness and understanding of environmental issues through research, the media and educational programs.
