Environmental Activist’s Family Takes Shell to Court Over Man’s Torture and Execution
source: http://www.twilightearth.com/2009/04/environmental-activists-family-takes-shell-to-court-ove...
by Derek
Ken Saro-Wiwa, an environmental activist tortured and killed by the Nigerian government in 1995, may finally get justice served as Shell Oil and a senior company executive face human rights abuse charges on May 26, including execution and torture.
“After the injustice of the original crime against my father, having to watch legal arguments [by Shell] using the highest-paid lawyers in the world is sickening. You can’t describe how painful that is to go through.” - Ken Wiwa, son of Saro-Wiwa
Saro-Wiwa, a television writer and businessman, campaigned on behalf of the Ogoni people, leading peaceful protests against oil companies’ environmental damage in the Niger Delta, and was hanged along with 8 other activists. Admissions of bribes to many prosecution witnesses in exchange for giving evidence against the activists were later discovered.
The suit alleges that Shell, by paying police to protect its oil pipeline, subsidized the reign of terror by security forces, and also attempted to bribe witnesses to testify against Saro-Wiwa. The lawyers gained permission under the alien tort statute (giving non-US citizens the right to file claims in US courts for international human rights violations) to bring the case to a New York federal court. No damages have been specified yet, but the company could be liable for hundreds of millions of dollars, according to legal experts.
If Shell is found liable, it will be a first for a multinational company to be found guilty of human rights abuses.
It’s about time.
Image: AdamL212 at Flickr
Ken Saro-Wiwa, an environmental activist tortured and killed by the Nigerian government in 1995, may finally get justice served as Shell Oil and a senior company executive face human rights abuse charges on May 26, including execution and torture.
“After the injustice of the original crime against my father, having to watch legal arguments [by Shell] using the highest-paid lawyers in the world is sickening. You can’t describe how painful that is to go through.” - Ken Wiwa, son of Saro-Wiwa
Saro-Wiwa, a television writer and businessman, campaigned on behalf of the Ogoni people, leading peaceful protests against oil companies’ environmental damage in the Niger Delta, and was hanged along with 8 other activists. Admissions of bribes to many prosecution witnesses in exchange for giving evidence against the activists were later discovered.
The suit alleges that Shell, by paying police to protect its oil pipeline, subsidized the reign of terror by security forces, and also attempted to bribe witnesses to testify against Saro-Wiwa. The lawyers gained permission under the alien tort statute (giving non-US citizens the right to file claims in US courts for international human rights violations) to bring the case to a New York federal court. No damages have been specified yet, but the company could be liable for hundreds of millions of dollars, according to legal experts.
If Shell is found liable, it will be a first for a multinational company to be found guilty of human rights abuses.
It’s about time.
Image: AdamL212 at Flickr
