Nigeria: Dutch court rejects suit of ‘Ogoni Nine’ widows against Shell

The court said there was insufficient evidence to support claims of the families of the activists executed alongside the writer Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995.

23 March 2022

A Dutch court has thrown out a suit against Shell brought by four widows of activists who were executed by late Nigerian military leader Sani Abacha in 1995 after protests against the company’s exploitation of the oil-rich Niger Delta.

The court said there was not enough evidence to support the widows’ claim that Shell had been involved in bribing witnesses related to the case.

In 2019, the court had handed the widows a rare win in their long-running battle by allowing the case to continue. But it had also said the claimants needed to prove Shell’s liability.

Shell has always denied wrongdoing.

Esther Kiobel, whose husband Barinem Kiobel was among those executed, said she would file an appeal at The Hague.

“We can’t do it in Nigeria because they [the government] are the collaborators,” she said. “I want their [activists] names exonerated. That’s what I want and that’s what I’m fighting for.” read more

The Hague: Esther Kiobel vows to continue her campaign for justice

23 March 2022

Human rights defender Esther Kiobel today lost her civil case against oil giant Shell, which she accuses of complicity in the 1995 execution of her husband by the Nigerian military government, but has promised to continue her campaign for justice. Esther has spent 27 years seeking justice for her husband Dr Barinem Kiobel, who was hanged along with eight other men in connection with widespread protests against oil pollution in the Niger Delta.At a witness hearing in 2019, three men told the Dutch court that Shell and the Nigerian government had given them money and offered them other bribes in order to incriminate Esther’s husband and eight other men, known collectively as the “Ogoni Nine”. But today, the court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prove that Shell had been involved.

Esther Kiobel brought the case against Shell along with three other women, Victoria Bera, Blessing Eawo and Charity Levula, whose husbands were also executed in 1995. Amnesty International’s research into the historic injustice has revealed how Shell’s requests for ‘assistance’ in handling environmental protests led to a brutal government crackdown, culminating in the arrests and unlawful executions of the women’s husbands, as well as renowned activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and four other men.

“This is a disappointing outcome, but these extraordinarily brave women are not giving up. Their voices have been heard. They should be commended for their resilience and unbreaking commitment to exposing the truth, and for the invaluable work they have done to highlight the global culture of impunity for multinationals accused of human rights abuses,” said Mark Dummett, Head of Business and Human Rights at Amnesty International.

“It has taken years of legal wrangling for Esther Kiobel to get Shell to face her in a courtroom. Shell tried every trick in the book, from disputing jurisdiction to refusing to hand over crucial documents. The fact that it took more than twenty years for a court to hear Esther’s argument is a grim indictment of how corporations are able to evade accountability for terrible crimes and human rights abuses. Despite the ruling today, Esther’s battle for justice has not been in vain – her persistence represents a powerful argument for change. Governments must do more to hold companies accountable for human rights abuses, and make it possible for the victims to seek justice.”

Esther Kiobel fled Nigeria and settled in the US following her husband’s killing. She first filed a case against Shell in New York in 2002, but in 2013 the US Supreme Court ruled that the US did not have jurisdiction to hear the case. In 2017, Amnesty International supported Esther Kiobel, Victoria Bera, Blessing Eawo and Charity Levula in bringing a new case against Shell in the Netherlands. The four plaintiffs accused Shell of being instrumental in the unlawful arrest and detention of their husbands; the violation of their husbands’ physical integrity; and the violation of their right to a fair trial and to life, and their own right to a family life. The case was held up when Shell refused to hand over crucial documents relating to the case, and it was not until 2019 that the District Court of The Hague heard the women’s arguments for the first time.

Amnesty International has extensively detailed Shell’s role in the crackdown in Ogoniland. In a 2017 report read more

After two decades of seeking justice, the District Court of the Hague ruled in May 2019 that the case could be heard in The Netherlands. In the ongoing case, the Court is assessing the role that Shell played in the ‘Ogoni Nine’ – among them my husband – being sentenced to death and executed.

Shell’s past sins in Nigeria catching up with the oil giant at last

The recent UK Supreme Court judgement represents a major defeat for Shell after decades of evading legal retribution for its evil plunder and pollution in Nigeria.  

The crusading solicitors Leigh Day (London) – the scourge of errant corporations, brought the action against Shell on behalf of Nigerian communities impacted over many years by Shell’s horrific environmental legacy in Nigeria. 

My help was sought by Leigh Day in bringing the action after Leigh Day discovered “invaluable” information on my website royaldutchshellplc.com.  read more

Shell has tried to shed its image of corporate killer like a snake would its skin.

Dear Shell: After 25 Years, Are You Finally Ready to Accept Your Role in the Murder of Ogoni 9?

The Ogoni 9 — Ken Saro-Wiwa, Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuine — were murdered 25 years ago for their campaign against Shell. Photo by Martin LeSanto-Smith.

And so another grim, painful milestone is reached. It is now a quarter of a century since the Ogoni 9 were murdered in Nigeria. read more

REMEMBERING OGONI 9 HERO

DR. BARINEM NUBARI KIOBEL

By John Donovan

This year is the sad Silver Jubilee of a landmark human rights atrocity. 

Today is the 25th anniversary of the death of Dr Barinem Nubari Kiobel who is lovingly remembered every year by his widow Esther Kiobel.

Dr Kiobel was a member of the “Ogoni 9” (which included Ken Saro-Wiwa), all innocent people executed in  Nigeria on November 10, 1995, by the murderous Abacha military regime. The regime was closely associated with and actively supported by Shell. read more

Kiobel vs Shell: 4 Nigerian women take on the corporate machine

Wednesday, July 5th, 2017

TOMORROW, a Dutch court will hear witnesses and examine the merits of a landmark case brought by Esther Kiobel and three other women with regard to what they claim was Shell’s involvement in the unlawful arrest, torture and execution of their husbands by the Nigerian military.

This follows a hearing in October 2019, where four people have accused Shell of bribing witnesses to testify against the men during their trial in the 1990s. read more

Ogoni and the Unforgettable History of State Brutality, By Fegalo Nsuke

21 August 2020

The Ogoni is daily in the news with reports of extra judicial killings, persecution, police repression, military torture and all sorts of human rights abuses. The conflict rages as the Nigerian oil industry seeks to adopt unsavoury measures to forcefully resume oil production in the area without the people’s consent.

The Ogoni people have become very familiar with the insincerity of the Nigerian oil industry, forcing a growing cynicism that continually creates distrust and conflict each time the Ogoni issue is mentioned. read more

MOSOP Allegations Against Shell

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) wishes to strongly express its concerns over the visit by Shell officials in the company of Nigerian soldiers to Ogoni oilfields yesterday (April 30, 2020).

Eye witness accounts and credible community sources which monitored the activities have it that officials of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, yesterday visited some communities in Gokana local government including Biara and K-Dere inspecting pipelines in the area in view of possible reactivation of the oilfields for oil production. read more

Esther Kiobel and Victoria Bera sit with their lawyer as a Dutch court hears the first arguments in an historic case against Shell, in which the oil giant stands accused of instigating a raft of horrifying human rights violations committed by the Nigerian government against the Ogoni people in the 1990s, on February 12, 2019 in The Hague, Netherlands. © Pierre Crom/Getty Images

 KIOBEL AND OTHERS V SHELL

Shell’s operations in the Niger Delta were first, and most effectively, put under the spotlight in the 1990s by Ken Saro-Wiwa, an acclaimed Nigerian writer. Saro-Wiwa led a community organisation in his home area, Ogoniland, called the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). MOSOP said that while outsiders had grown rich on the oil that was pumped from under their soil, pollution from oil spills and gas flaring had, “led to the complete degradation of the Ogoni environment, turning our homeland into an ecological disaster.”10 read more

Cover photo: A Dutch court hears the first arguments in an historic case against Shell, in which the oil giant stands accused of instigating a raft of horrifying human rights violations committed by the Nigerian government against the Ogoni people in the 1990s, on February 12, 2019 in The Hague, Netherlands. © Pierre Crom/Getty Images

Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 7 million people who campaign for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all.

Our vision is for every person to enjoy all the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards.

We are independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion and are funded mainly by our membership and public donations.

Since Shell first discovered oil near the village of Oloibiri in 1956, the Niger Delta has become Africa’s most valuable oil-producing region and the Anglo-Dutch giant has earned billions of dollars. read more

In 2020 Shell will face unprecedented legal scrutiny over decades of human rights abuses in Nigeria, Amnesty International said today, as the oil giant braces itself for conclusions in a string of European court battles. Allegations range from complicity in unlawful executions to systemic pollution and environmental damage in the Niger Delta.

(RELATED: Investigate Shell for complicity in murder, rape and torture)

Amnesty International has been researching Shell’s activities in the Niger Delta for more than 20 years, compiling compelling evidence of the company’s role in human rights abuses. In a report released today, the organization highlights the various cases that are finally putting Shell’s harmful operations in Nigeria on trial. read more

By Prince Fegalo Nsuke, president of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). 

Ken Saro-Wiwa’s murder is most certainly the worst Nigeria did to the Ogoni people outside the genocide which has been the outcome of Shell’s reckless oil mining operations since 1958.

The pain of Ken Saro-Wiwa’s murder along with eight others including John Kpuinen, Barinem Nubari Kiobel, Nordu Eawo, Saturday Doobee,  Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate and Baribor Bera remain the most unpleasant side of our country’s history. It is so because the “Ogoni 9” as they became known and referred to were definitely innocent and did not deserve death. read more

Extracts from an article by Stephen Delahunty published 15 January 2020

Newly released files under the UK’s declassification rules reveal that John Major’s Conservative Government rejected Mandela’s personal appeal to impose oil sanctions on Nigeria as it wanted to protect Shell and the UK’s wider commercial interests.

In 1995, Nigeria’s military regime executed nine environmental activists who had led a non-violent protest against pollution by Anglo-Dutch company Shell and other energy firms in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

The so-called ‘Ogoni 9’ were executed on 10 November 1995, following a military tribunal that was internationally condemned – particularly by South Africa’s President Nelson Mandela.

Newly released files under the UK’s declassification rules reveal that John Major’s Conservative Government rejected Mandela’s personal appeal to impose oil sanctions on Nigeria as it wanted to protect Shell and the UK’s wider commercial interests. read more

18 December 2019, 15:02 UTC

With inequality, injustice and hate speech seemingly ever more prevalent across the globe, you’d be forgiven for thinking 2019 has been a bad year for human rights. Yet, we have also seen some significant wins. Activists the world over have been galvanised to stand up and fight for our human rights – and thanks to their relentless campaigning we achieved some striking leaps forward.

The District Court of The Hague issued an interim ruling in favour of Esther Kiobel and three other women who took on one of the world’s biggest oil companies, Shell, in a fight for justice. Esther has pursued the company for more than 20 years over the role she says it played in the arbitrary execution of her husband in Nigeria. Amnesty has shared over 30,000 solidarity messages with Esther Kiobel, and is supporting her Kiobel vs Shell case in The Hague. As a result of this hearing, the court in October 2019 heard for the first time the accounts of individuals who accuse Shell of offering them bribes to give fake testimonies that led to the ‘Ogoni Nine’ – who included Esther Kiobel’s husband – being sentenced to death and executed. read more

Rejoinder: Ken Saro-Wiwa: A Playwright And Revolutionary, But A Man With Trading Instinct

Dear Editor,

Please see and publish the article below with above headline.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Ben Ikari, author of Ken Saro-Wiwa and MOSOP: The Story and Revelation; Rights and Environmental Justice Advocate.

Dear Janet Anderson:

Thank you for taking the time to write these good words credited to you about Ken Saro-Wiwa in the headline above. It was reportedly published in the Tempo Newspaper Nigeria, on Jan. 2, 1996 though originally printed in the Daily Telegraph of Nov. 13, 1995.  Saro-Wiwa was, of course, the foremost minority rights crusader of Africa. He was a prolific and accomplished writer who authored more than 27 books. He also had several newspaper publications and position papers to his name; a non-violent and peaceful, intelligent, smart and witty world’s environmental martyr he was. He was truly altruistic. read more