Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 9 Nov 1995

Vol. 458 No. 1

Adjournment Debate. - Death Sentence on Nigerian Activists.

Mr. E. Byrne

Yesterday, on the eve of the Commonwealth Conference, the Nigerian Provisional Ruling Council confirmed the death sentences imposed on the writer and environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists. In a move of breathtaking cynicism, the Nigerian authorities have cocked a snook at human rights activists who have condemned both the sentences and the deeply flawed trial. Amnesty International fears that their execution may be imminent.

Ken Saro-Wiwa is well known in the west for his animal fables allegorising political life. As a writer and environmentalist, he has campaigned peacefully against the environmental despoilation of Ogoniland by Shell International, aided by Nigerian Government forces.

At the end of last month a special court found the defendants guilty of murdering four Ogoni leaders and sentenced them to death. There are serious question marks over the conduct of the trial. The defendants were detained incommunicado for at least eight months before being charged and there have been allegations of ill-treatment and torture while in detention. The civil disturbances special tribunal which convicted these men falls outside the Nigerian judicial system, and was specially convened to try the cases of these men, who have long been thorns in the side of General Sani Abacha and his military dictatorship.

The defendants were denied the right to a fair trial and to appeal to a higher court. In effect, they were tried by a kangaroo court in contravention of both Nigerian and international judicial procedures. The Nigerian military junta has acted as judge and jury and — unless increased international pressure is brought to bear — may act as executioner.

The flawed trial of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the other defendants, and the subsequent death sentences, are just the latest outrage in a human rights record which has steadily worsened since General Sani Abacha refused to accept the results of democratic elections. There are at least 43 people currently imprisoned in Nigeria after being tried by a special military tribunal headed, ironically, by a member of the military government. They have been accused of complicity in an alleged plot to overthrow the Government in March of this year — a plot whose existence is questioned by many. Also, there have been at least 180 executions since the military regime assumed power.

The Government is well placed to press the European Union to make formal representations to Nigeria calling for the immediate release of Ken Saro-Wiwa and Dr. Barimen Kiobel, the former president of the Nigerian Medical Association, both of whom Amnesty International believes to be prisoners of conscience, and to seek the commutation of the death sentence in all cases where it has been imposed. In the long-term, only sustained pressure by the international community will force Nigeria to clean up its human rights act. The softly-softly approach being adopted by the UK and other member states is unlikely to have any effect on a regime that has consistently defied international opinion.

Economic sanctions may be the only way to exert pressure on the Nigerian authorities. The European Union should impose an immediate arms embargo on the Nigerian regime which is using its military might to repress even its own people. I hope Ireland will play a leading role in the European Union in exerting maximum pressure on the Nigerian authorities and in demanding a review and commutation of the sentences of those on death row.

Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (Ms Burton)

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter.

Ireland, both bilaterally and with its partners in the European Union, has consistently expressed its serious concern to the Nigerian authorities about the case of Mr. Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni people. We fully supported and participated in the European Union fact finding mission to the Ogoni region which took place last November. The mission saw evidence of considerable destruction, with houses and schools in some Ogoni villages either partially or completely demolished.

At Ireland's instigation and following our expressions of concern last January, the EU made representations to the Nigerian authorities on the need to restore democratic rule and on human rights violations, including the case of Mr. Saro-Wiwa, and EU monitors attended the tribunal hearings of his case.

The Government also raised this issue with the Nigerian Chargé d'Affaires when he was summoned to my Department in July as part of a demarche on democracy and human rights issues carried out in all EU capitals, and again during subsequent official contacts with the embassy. Mr. Saro-Wiwa's son, with whom we have maintained continuing contact through diplomatic channels, had a meeting with officials at my Department when he visited Dublin last month.

Following the recent imposition of the death sentence on Mr. Saro-Wiwa and his co-accused by a special tribunal in Nigeria, I issued a statement on behalf of the Government. In it I expressed our grave concern about the imposition of the death sentence on Ken Saro-Wiwa and his co-defendants and our earnest hope that it would be commuted when the Provisional Ruling Council considered the judgement of the tribunal.

In follow-up to this statement. I met the Nigerian Ambassador on 6 November to convey directly the Government's grave concern and our appeal to the Head of State of Nigeria and the Provisional Ruling Council to cancel the sentences imposed on Mr. Saro-Wiwa and his co-defendants. In asking for clemency I also expressed our concerns at the overall position regarding human rights and democracy in Nigeria, particularly in Ogoniland.

In addition to Ireland's reaction to the Saro-Wiwa case many other Governments and the Commonwealth Secretary General have expressed dismay or concern about its outcome and have sought to have the death sentence cancelled or commuted.

In 1993, as part of its efforts to encourage a return to democratic rule and respect for human rights in Nigeria, the European Union imposed a number of restrictions on the movement of personnel and military equipment from that country. These measures remain in force. They include restrictions on the placement of military personnel in Nigerian diplomatic missions, the annulment of bilateral military training courses and the suspension of bilateral high level visits which are not indispensible. In particular, they provide for the case by case examination of new export licences for defence equipment with an automatic presumption of refusal by member states. Visa restrictions on military personnel and their families were also introduced at that time.

In his national address on 1 October, the Nigerian Head of State announced a timetable for a return to democratic Government in Nigeria over a three year period. The European Union has asked to have this implemented in a shorter period in its statements of 2 and 20 October. The EU also used these statements to express its concern about the lack of transparency in the trial of alleged coup plotters and to deplore the continued use of secret military tribunals and the suspension of habeas corpus in Nigeria.

Nigeria remains an area of priority engagement and concern for Ireland and the European Union. The Government will continue to follow closely, both bilaterally and with our EU partners, the implementation of the public commitments made by General Abacha and his Government's human rights policy. In so doing we will take account of all appropriate measures, including the strengthening of existing EU restrictions and whatever additional measures prove necessary in the interests of ensuring an early return to democracy.

I express, on my behalf and that of the Government, our deep disappointment and dismay at the latest reports that the death sentences imposed on Mr. Saro-Wiwa and his co-defendants have been confirmed by the Provisional Ruling Council. We called yesterday on EU partners to bring forward publication of the EU declaration on the matter and we have also raised the matter with our EU partners at high level today in Brussels. We will use every means at our disposal, both bilaterally and with our EU partners, to try to ensure that the death sentences are not carried out by the Nigerian authorities.