Sea Shepherd anti-whalers now labeled 'pirates' by US fed court

Sea Shepherd anti-whalers now labeled 'pirates' by US fed court:
Chief judge Alex Kozinski wrote in an 18-page opinion that“you don’t need a peg leg or an eye patch” to be classifiedas pirates.
"When you ram ships, hurl glass containers of acid, dragmetal-reinforced ropes in the water to damage propellers andrudders, launch smoke bombs and flares with hooks, and pointhigh-powered lasers at other ships, you are, without a doubt, apirate," he said, adding that the group’s actions were the“very embodiment of piracy.”
But Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson says Kozinski's belief thathe is a "pirate" is one-sided and irrelevant.
"That's an opinion, it's certainly not a judgment," hetold AAP. "He didn't mention anything in there about the factthat the Japanese have destroyed one of our ships (the Ady Gil in2010), they've thrown concussion grenades at us, hit us with watercannons and laser beams."
Watson added that contrary to Kozinski's claims, Sea Shepherdhas not rammed a single Japanese whaling vessel.
"The judge obviously has not seen the evidence or the facts;he's just making an opinion based on his own personalprejudices," he said.
Earlier, Japanese whalers from the Institute of CetaceanResearch filed legal action in the US to stop the Sea Shepherd’santi-whaling activism. But District Judge Richard Jones sided withthe activists, leading to a ruling by a three-judge panel of the9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed the originaldecision and criticized Jones.

The ruling will allow Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research topursue legal action in the US against the Sea Shepherd’s activism.Even though whaling is illegal in Australian waters, the SeaShepherd activists have no right to initiate a standoff, Kozinskisaid: “It is for Australia, not Sea Shepherd, to policeAustralia's court orders.”
The US ruling also criticized Jones, stating that he was “offbase” when arguing that the protesters' tactics were nonviolentbecause they did not target people, just ships and equipment:“The district judge's numerous, serious and obvious errorsidentified in our opinion raise doubts as to whether he will beperceived as impartial in presiding over this high-profilecase.”
The case will now be transferred to another judge.

For the past few weeks, the activists’ ships have been in astandoff with Japanese whaling vessels in the Southern Ocean. SeaShepherd activists have also blockaded the Japanese ships fromrefueling at the Sun Laurel tanker ship.
Both sides have accused each other of damaging vessels duringthe standoff. The activists also claimed that the Japanese whalershave been using water cannons and stun grenades against them, andthat Japan has deployed a military icebreaker to threatenthem.
Japan has denied the reports; Australia is currently takinglegal action against the country for its whaling activities.
Sea Shepherd vessels are known for chasing down Japanese whalersto disrupt their annual hunt and prevent the mammals from beingkilled. They set sail from Australia, and try to block or attackJapanese whaling vessels.
Whaling for commercial purposes has been banned for the past 25years, but Japan still sends ships on annual hunts. Tokyo hasargued that such hunts are for scientific research only, which ispermitted by an international treaty, but several media reportshave indicated that the Japanese hunts have no scientificvalue.