Corporate Social Responsibility (IVOR nr. 77) 2010/9.1.3.3:9.1.3.3 The arrest and trial of Saro-Wiwa

Corporate Social Responsibility (IVOR nr. 77) 2010/9.1.3.3

9.1.3.3 The arrest and trial of Saro-Wiwa

Documentgegevens:

Mr. T.E. Lambooy, datum 17-11-2010

Datum: 17-11-2010
Auteur: Mr. T.E. Lambooy
JCDI: JCDI:ADS363374:1
Vakgebied(en): Ondernemingsrecht (V)

As a result of these protests, SPDC decided to suspend its operations in Ogoniland in mid-1993, without resuming them to this day.1 These events led some companies, including SPDC, to request assistance from the Government. A special military unit, the Rivers State Internal Security Task Force (RSISTF), was sent to Ogoniland to stop and prevent further unrest. The RSISTF is reported to have massacred hundreds of civilians and destroyed villages in 1994.2 An investigation undertaken by Human Rights Watch on the means used for the suppression of protest at oil company activities in Nigeria found:

[... ] repeated incidents in which people were brutalised for attempting to raise grievances with the companies; in some cases security forces threatened, beat, and jailed members of community delegations even before they presented their cases. Such abuses often occurred on or adjacent to company property, or in the immediate aftermath of meetings between company officials and individual claimants or community representatives. Many local people seemed to be the object of repression simply for putting forth an interpretation of a

compensation agreement, or for seeking effective compensation for land ruined or livelihood lost.3

According to the same report, allegations were made of Shell collaboration with the military unit related to the suppression of local resistance to oil extraction policies.

On 22 May 1994, Saro-Wiwa and eight other MOSOP leaders were arrested for allegedly inciting the murder of four pro-government Ogoni chiefs during a riot at a meeting of the Gokana Council of Chiefs held in Giokoo, Ogoniland. Saro-Wiwa was nowhere near Goikoo at the time of the murders. Ironically, one of the victims was Saro-Wiwa's brother-in-law and another, an old friend of his.4

At their trial before the Civil Disturbances Special Tribunal, widely seen as flawed and unfair,5 Saro-Wiwa and his compatriots were found guilty of murder and sentenced to death on 31 October 1995. Their execution occurred ten days later. In the week prior to the execution, Ken Saro-Wiwa's elder son, Ken Wiwa, flew to the Commonwealth Summit held in New Zealand to convince the world leaders to appeal for clemency.6 Although his tentative attempt failed, the event drew worldwide condemnation of the then dictatorship of General Sani Abacha. The military government was known for violating rights related to free political activity including the freedom of expression and human rights abuses by its security forces. Reactions from the international community were translated into some actions including the suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth, the imposition of a ban on arms sales by certain countries, and calls for a multilateral oil embargo.7 Nevertheless, as Human Rights Watch pointed out, international attention gradually lessened "as Nigeria's major trading partners have returned to protecting their short-term economic interests".8

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The company pursues its activities in other parts of the Niger Delta region and still try to conclude an agreement to resume its activities in Ogoniland.

Wiwa, supra note 32, p. 141.

Human Rights Watch (1999), supra note 5.

Wiwa, supra note 32, pp. 144-145 and pp. 153-154; Okonta and Douglas, supra note 2, p. 130.

See: M. Birnbaum, 'Nigeria-Fundamental Rights Denied, Report of the Trial of Ken Saro-Wiwa and Others', Article 19, June 1995, at: http://www.article19.org/pdfs/publications/nigeria-fundamental-rights-denied.pdf, accessed on 28 June 2010. Birnbaum was asked to attend and report on the Saro-Wiwa's trial proceedings from 21-29 March 1995 as the representative of the Law Society of England and Wales with the support of Article 19, the International Centre against Censorship. See section 1.4 on the UN fact-finding mission.

See Wiwa, supra note 32, pp.181-194.

TED Case Studies, 'Ogoni and Oil', 1 November 1997, at: http://www.american.edu/TED/ OGONI.HTM, accessed on 28 June 2010.

Human Rights Watch, 'Nigeria: Transition or Travesty?', Vol. 9, No. 6(A), October 1997, at: http://www.hrw.org/reports/1997/nigeria/, accessed on 28 June 2010.