Sea Shepherd Crew Update

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Sea Shepherd Crew UpdateAll 17 of the Sea Shepherd crew of the Farley Mowat were brought into Sydney, Nova Scotia by the Canadian Coast Guard late last night.Captain Alex Cornelissen and 1st Officer Peter Hammarstedt were detained and charged with approaching a seal hunt without a permit. They appeared in court on the morning of 13th of April. Although not yet confirmed, the Judge is asking $5,000 each for bail.Amber Paarman of South Africa, Dan Villa, Greg Hager and Merilee Nyland of the United States, Anne Fournier of France, Merryn Redenbach of Australia have protested that they did not voluntarily enter Canada and because they were forced at gunpoint into the country they refused to sign immigration papers to enter. They are

being detained by Canada Customs and Immigration. The other eleven crew-members were released and are staging a hunger strike at the court house in solidarity with Captain Cornelissen and 1st Officer Peter Hammarstedt.Amber Paarman was the only crewmember injured by the Canadian boarding party. She suffered a blow to the side of her head from a Fisheries Officer when she objected to being manhandled by one of the officers.The Farley Mowat remains in the custody of the Coast Guard along with all the personal property of the crew. All computers and laptops have been seized by the Federal Department of Fisheries. All photos and videos taken of inhumane activities by sealers have been seized by the Canadian Department of Fisheries."It is these images of brutal sadistic slaughter on the ice floes that Canada is desperate to keep hidden." Said Captain Paul

Watson. "What the Sea Shepherd crew have witnessed over the last two weeks has exposed the lies of Canadian government claims that the seal slaughter is inhumane."Canadian Minister of Fisheries Loyola Hearn authorized an assault on a Dutch registered vessel in international waters in order to detract from the tragedy his department was responsible for two weeks ago when four sealers drowned while under tow by the Canadian Coast Guard.In Canada it is illegal to film, photograph or even witness a seal being killed without permission of the Minister of Fisheries.Loyola Hearn said that the action was taken to protect the safety of the sealers.Captain Paul Watson, presently en route to Sydney Nova Scotia responded by saying, "The sealers have nothing to fear from our cameras and everything to fear from Canadian

government incompetence. So far Canada has been responsible for four deaths while we were simply taking pictures of sealers inhumanely killing seals."