Daughter demands pardon for Ken Saro-Wiwa

The daughter of renowned Nigerian environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa has called for him to be posthumously pardoned, on what is the 25th anniversary of his execution.

Nigeria's then-military regime sparked global outrage after it convicted Mr Saro-Wiwa and eight other people of murder and hanged them.

Noo Saro-Wiwa has tweeted that the government "cannot call itself civilised or claim moral responsibility while it refuses to exonerate" her father and his colleagues, who became known as the Ogoni Nine.

"Black lives will matter outside Africa only when they matter in Africa itself", she adds.

In 2015 the Nigerian Human Rights Commission said Ken Saro-Wiwa's trial was "deeply flawed", and he should be pardoned.

Mr Saro-Wiwa led mass protests against oil pollution in Nigeria's Ogoniland.

The protests were seen as a major threat to then-military ruler Gen Sani Abacha, and oil giant Shell.

Military rule ended in Nigeria, Africa's most populous state and biggest oil producer, in 1999.

This article originally appeared on BBC News

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