By Matthew Green in Lagos and Michael Peel in London
Published: April 4 2009 03:00 | Last updated: April 4 2009 03:00
The death of Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Nigerian activist, will return to haunt Royal Dutch Shell this month when a potentially groundbreaking court case opens in the US alleging the company was complicit in his execution.
Lawyers are hoping to hold Shell to account for sponsoring what they describe as a campaign of terror by Nigeria’s security forces in Ogoni in the Niger Delta that culminated in Saro-Wiwa’s hanging in 1995. The case is a key test of whether multinationals based in the US or operating there can be successfully sued for damages over their operations abroad. Proceedings are due to open at a New York court on April 27.
The claim filed by plaintiffs including Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr, the late activist’s eldest son, accuse Shell of complicity in human rights violations committed by the former military government.
Shell is also accused of collaborating with the authorities who arranged Saro-Wiwa’s detention and eventual execution along with eight other Ogoni activists on trumped-up murder charges. The suit says the company tried to bribe two men to testify against Saro-Wiwa at his trial before a special tribunal.
“Almost daily you get a reminder that your father was hanged for a crime he didn’t commit,” Mr Saro-Wiwa Jr told the Financial Times. “We’ve always maintained that Shell was complicit in the conspiracy to silence my father and thousands of other Ogonis.”
Shell says the allegations contained in the case are false and that the company appealed for clemency for Saro-Wiwa. “We in no way encouraged or advocated any acts of violence against Ken Saro-Wiwa or the other Ogonis,” said Rainer Winzenried, a Shell spokesman. “We believe that the evidence will show clearly that Shell was not responsible for these tragic events.”
Saro-Wiwa mobilised hundreds of thousands of Ogoni people to launch peaceful protests against environmental damage caused by oil companies in the Delta. His hanging provoked a global outcry and precipitated a backlash by human rights groups against Shell.
To many in the Niger Delta, the deaths of Saro-Wiwa and the other activists marked a turning point that pushed the region into the violence rampant in the region today.
The suit is being brought under the Alien Tort Claims Act, a law that has been used in a number of cases since the mid-1990s to target companies over their actions in nations from Liberia to Indonesia.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
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Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
