Greenpeacers Convicted of Stealing Whale Meat

They tried to prove meat was for eating, not research
By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 6, 2010 4:02 AM CDT
Greenpeacers Convicted of Stealing Whale Meat
Local children touch a Baird's Beaked whale at Wada Port last year in Minamiboso, Chiba, Japan.   (Getty Images)

Two Greenpeace activists have been convicted in Japan of stealing whale meat they say they took to prove that whalers were lying about the "research nature" of their hunt. The activists were sentenced to a year in prison for theft and trespassing, but the sentences were suspended and they won't serve any jail time, AP reports. They stole some 50 pounds of whale meat from a warehouse which was presented by Greenpeace to authorities. Greenpeace charges that whalers in the "research" hunts—which are exempt from whaling bans and are financed with taxpayer money—siphon off the catch to sell.
(More Japan stories.)

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