I don’t usually consider people who have been intentionally breaking the law for over forty years to be victims, even if they’re doing it for a worthwhile cause. He knew exactly what he was doing and what the consequences would be. Hopefully he saved some whales while doing it.

Otherwise, he’d still be doing peaceful protests with Greenpeace. And would be getting arrested for that, instead, which would make a bigger difference in international law.

Watson left Greenpeace because he believed whalers could only be stopped through “direct action” - meaning, violence and sabotage. Eventually, the new organization he founded realized that you had to win hearts and minds, not be a thorn in the side of whalers. So he left the group he had founded as well, still certain that only through direct action could the whales be saved.

He evaded arrest for 14 years; the other person involved was arrested on site, stood trial in Japan, and was released with a suspended sentence, all back in 2012.

Another well balanced article on what’s happening here is available at https://theconversation.com/former-sea-shepherd-captain-paul-watson-arrested-on-a-japanese-warrant-from-2012-what-next-235965

Crazily, there still are some. There were a lot more in the 1970s, and Greenpeace has been a huge part of the reason why that changed.