Activists want fair trial in Japan whaling case

The Associated Press

| 08 Feb 2010 | 01:35 AM ET

JAKARTA, Indonesia - A small group of Greenpeace activists have held a protest outside the Japanese Embassy in the Indonesian capital to call for a fair trail for two fellow activists.

Greenpeace campaigner Hikmat Soeriatanuwijaya says the activists were arrested in 2008 in connection with their efforts to uncover alleged corruption in Japan's whaling program. Their trial is scheduled to begin next week in Japan.

Japanese police arrested the two on suspicion of stealing whale meat the environmentalists said had been illegally siphoned by whalers from government-backed hunts.

Soeriatanuwijaya said Monday that the arrested activists did nothing wrong and called on Japan to give them a fair trial.

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