The United Nations Human Rights Council confirmed that the human rights of Greenpeace activists Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki have been violated by the Japanese justice system.
The UN group says that: "Sato and Suzuki acted considering that their actions were in the greater public interest as they sought to expose criminal embezzlement within the taxpayer-funded whaling industry." Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki, who you might know as the "Tokyo Two," were detained by Japanese authorities after exposing major corruption in the Japanese whaling industry in June 2008. Each of them were held for 23 days without charges; often tied to chairs while they were interrogated, without a lawyer present.
Junichi and Toru exposed the whale-meat embezzlement scandal on May 15, 2008, when they presented a box of whale meat stolen by the crew of Japan's "scientific whaling" fleet to Tokyo’s public prosecutor. The activists then submitted a dossier to the prosecutor that explained how the box was intercepted during their four month long investigation. After they exposed the scandal, in which prime cuts of whale meat are smuggled off ships by crew members and sold outside official channels -- for personal profit, the activists were arrested for theft and trespassing.
Now the United Nations has called on Japanese authorities to recognize that these two environmental activists engaged in a meaningful political act, not a crime, in exposing the whaling scandal. The "Tokyo Two" are set to stand trial on February 15, 2010. Take Action! Tell the Japanese Embassy that you stand beside the Tokyo Two as co-defendants.
For the whales and all there defenders, Jean Greenpeace USA Support your cause! Be counted:
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