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Saro-Wiwa group welcomes rights probe

    ABIDJAN
    A minority rights group led by the late Ken Saro-Wiwa said on Monday it welcomed plans by Obasanjo to probe recent human rights abuses between 1994 and 1999, describing the action as “a courageous first step”, AFP reported. Obasanjo announced on Friday the creation of a panel to be headed by a former Supreme Court judge. The rights group, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), said Obasanjo needed to give the investigating panel “a mandate to investigate killings which occurred in Ogoni” under the administration of the late General Sani Abacha. Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists were hanged after a trial by a military tribunal on murder charges. The execution provoked worldwide outrage and led to the suspension of Nigeria form the Commonwealth.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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