Nobel laureates call on Putin to free Greenpeace activists

Eleven Nobel Peace Prize laureates urged Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday to drop piracy charges against 30 people detained over a Greenpeace protest last month at an Arctic oil rig.

The piracy charges, punishable by up to 15 years' jail, appear aimed at sending a message that Moscow will not tolerate attempts to disrupt its development of the resource-rich Arctic. The letter, whose signatories included South African anti-apartheid campaigner Desmond Tutu, described the Sept. 18 protest in which the activists tried to scale the Prirazlomnaya oil rig as "a peaceful, non-violent protest". (Reuters)