Cases line up against Greenpeace

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, June 20 (UPI) -- Eleven activists with Greenpeace appeared before a Dutch court as the group's executive director remained jailed for protesting arctic oil drilling.

Eleven members of Greenpeace faced court Monday on charges related to their protest at the climate change conference in Copenhagen last year, the advocacy group said.

A Dutch court ruled against Greenpeace recently in a case involving the work of Cairn Energy in the arctic waters off the coast of Greenland.

Greenpeace activists are barred from moving within 1,600 feet of Cairn's rigs for six months. The group would have to pay $73,000 per day if it violates the order. The court set a penalty limit at $1.4 million though Cairn had requested $2.8 million for each day its drilling was disrupted.

Greenpeace claimed that it caused Cairn to suspend drilling operations for four days while activists suspended themselves in a survival pod about 80 feet above the sea for nearly 100 hours.

Kumi Naidoo, international executive director of Greenpeace, was arrested last week and placed in a Greenland jail after scaling a Cairn platform.

Cairn, which left the arctic last year empty-handed, said it was committed to safe operations in Greenland's waters.