“The allegations are grave: rape, systematic and widespread torture, extrajudicial killings.”
THE SUNDAY TIMES: HAGUE TRIES TO HALT SHELL ‘MURDER’ CASE
27 May 2012
WILLIAM HAGUE has been accused of hypocrisy after the government intervened on the side of Shell, Britain’s biggest company, over court claims the oil giant was complicit in torture and murder.
The foreign secretary is facing pressure from human rights groups over Britain’s role in a case in America’s highest court being brought by the families of 12 people from Nigeria’s Ogoniland community.
The case puts Britain in conflict with President Barack Obama’s administration, which argues the families should be allowed to sue Shell over claims their relatives were tortured and killed by Nigerian troops in the Niger delta in the 1990s.