By IPS Correspondents
LAGOS, Nov 10 1995 (IPS)

Minority rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight colleagues were hung Friday in a prison in Portharcourt, the capital of the oil-rich Rivers state.

The execution, in defiance of international appeals for clemency, was carried out at 10.30 gmt.

“The condemned men were brought to the prison this morning and after priests had prayed for them and other necessary formalities were done, they were eventually hanged,” a security source at the prison said.

“The bodies of the executed men were later taken to the Portharcourt cemetery for burial at 3.15 pm (2.15 gmt). Along the cemetery road, heavily armed mobile policemen cordoned off the road, refusing people entry to the cemetery while the burial was going on”.

Hauwa Saro-Wiwa, on hearing the news of her husband’s death said: “Oh my God, what am I to do, I am an orphan, Ken is the only thing I have in the world today.”

Reports from the city say there were public scenes of grief, with people weeping openly, when word of the execution spread.

“The whole of Portharcourt knows that they have lost a gem … the atmosphere is gloomy,” one source reported by telephone.

Wives of the condemned men had begged for a last minute clemency from Nigeria’s military ruler, Gen Sani Abacha.

“We want to appeal to you as the last depository of justice in this matter to temper justice with mercy and save the lives of our husbands,” said one of the wives, Victoria Bera.

Human rights activists here were furious that the executions had gone ahead.

“There is therefore no basis for continuing to deal or recognise this government. It has only one interest, to remain in power, to perpetuate all the evils,” said Ogara Ifowodo of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO).

“There is need for the international community to act immediately and decisively against an entirely unresponsive and insular military government,” he told IPS.

Saro-Wiwa, 54, was leader of the non-violent Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) which has spareheaded the fight by the 500,000-stong minority ethnic group against the environmental damage caused by the oil companies drilling in their region. They had demanded greater autonomy and compensation from the federal government.

Saro-Wiwa and his MOSOP colleagues were charged with the murder in May last year of four Ogoni moderate leaders, killed by an angry mob.

They had been detained for eight months incommunicado before being charged, and Amnesty International reported some of them had been tortured. The London-based human rights watchdog adopted Saro- Wiwa, a celebrated author, as a prisoner of conscience.

Human rights groups condemned as show trials the two separate tribunals that condemned the men to death on Oct. 30 and 31. Two key prosecution witnesses alleged they were threatened and bribed to give false evidence, and defence lawyers withdrew from the case in June and July protesting the courts bias.

The sentences were confirmed by the Provisional Ruling Council, the highest decision-making body, Wednesday.

Saro-Wiwa, who this year won a Nobel Peace Prize, had repeatedly warned that the military regime would kill him.

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