Overview

• The French refugee office denied the Sea Shepherd founder’s request on September 9, finding his account insufficient to show he would be arrested with certainty in the United States or Canada.
• Ofpra said the ruling was completely apolitical, even as President Emmanuel Macron had previously called Watson a good candidate for asylum and said, “We’ll work it out.”
• Japan maintains an arrest warrant tied to a 2010 anti‑whaling action, though Interpol’s red notice was lifted in July 2025.
• Watson spent 149 days in detention in Greenland in 2024 before Denmark rejected Japan’s extradition request, and he filed for asylum in France in February 2025.
• His lawyer, Emmanuel Ludot, has urged Macron to personally grant asylum using constitutional authority.