A Dutch Court Has Acquitted Shell in the Ogoni Nine Trial

The Ogoni Nine—Ken Saro-Wiwa, Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuine—were a group of nine activists from Ogoniland who were executed by late Nigerian military leader, Sani Abacha, in 1995 after protests against Shell’s exploitation of the oil-rich Niger Delta. The imposition of the death penalty turned international opinion against Nigeria’s military rulers at the time. Their wives had accused Shell of being complicit in their husband’s deaths, which the company has always denied.