Today, there was another delay in the Wiwa v. Shell trial, causing teeth-gnashing by journalists who have dedicated resources to cover the trial, hand-wringing by Ogoni people and human rights & environmental justice supporters worldwide, and head-scratching by nearly everyone else following along.

Click here to read the full blog post on ShellGuilty.com.

During a recent stop-over in New York for pretrial publicity, Ben Amunwa of PLATFORM’s remember saro-wiwa project used the time to capture some vivid moments at the courthouse rally and in the surrounding court district, lower Manhattan. To get closer to the action, click below to view a special slideshow by flickr, and see above for the famous view from the Brooklyn Bridge.

The sombre, civic architecture down there feels starkly removed from the topics under scrutiny in court; the crackdowns on poverty-struck Ogoni villages; the polluted creeks of the conflict ridden Niger Delta. The struggle for global justice has come to this island dense with sky-scapers to rewrite the script of rampant, unchecked corporate power.In this sense, New York could hardly be a better place to put Shell on trial.

Please feel free to use these pictures, and credit PLATFORM/remember saro-wiwa. Journalists, please contact us for higher res files and more.

Another week of publicity is keeping the spotlight firmly on the forthcoming Shell trial, with BBC Radio 4′s Today Programme dedicating a prominent feature to Shell’s role in the Niger Delta executions, Al-Jazeera News interviewing Ben Amunwa from remember saro-wiwa (see video), and an excellent article by Steve Kretzmann of Oil Change International in the world’s largest blog, the Huffington Post.

Next Pre-trial Conference in Wiwa v. Shell Now Set for Wednesday June 3rd

‘Video Shell Doesn’t Want You to See’ Viewed More Than 60,000 Times in Past Four Days

New York– There has been another postponement in the landmark human rights trial at which Shell is expected to defend itself against charges that it colluded with the Nigerian military to brutally suppress peaceful opposition to its operations in the Ogoni region of the Niger Delta in the 1990s. Meanwhile, a ‘campaign video’ removed from the plaintiffs’ website under court order after legal motions by Shell has been viewed more than 60,000 times on YouTube in only the past four days.

TRIAL DELAY
The trial had been set to begin with jury selection on Wednesday, May 27th in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan. On Tuesday, there was an 11th-hour postponement with no new trial date set. However, the court set a pre-trial conference with the two opposing counsel for Monday, June 1st. Late on Friday, May 29th, the court announced that the Monday conference is pushed back to Wednesday, June 3rd at 2pm.

THE VIDEO SHELL DOESN’T WANT YOU TO SEE
On May 12th, Shell’s lawyers filed a motion opposing the admission of prominent human rights attorney Paul Hoffman to serve as trial counsel for the plaintiffs, citing the fact that he had posted a link on his law firm’s website to a video on the plaintiffs’ website. The motion refers to the “plaintiffs’ ‘campaign video’ that [the defendants] have previously raised with the Court.” The court ruled against the defendants’ motion to oppose admission of Mr. Hoffman to serve as trial counsel for the plaintiffs, but ordered the removal of the video from the plaintiffs’ educational website about the case.

The ShellGuilty campaign re-posted the video, dubbing it ‘The Video Shell Doesn’t Want You to See,’ and wrote about Shell’s attempts to suppress it in an article on Huffington Post, which was widely circulated via social networking sites such as Digg, Twitter, and Facebook. The video lays out the plaintiffs’ case against Shell, and includes documentary footage of the late Ken Saro-Wiwa, leading Ogoni activist who was hanged by the Nigerian military in 1995 along with eight fellow activists. The plaintiffs, including Saro-Wiwa’s son Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr., assert that Shell conspired with the Nigeria military in the prosecution and execution of the men, known as the ‘Ogoni 9.’

Beginning last Thursday, news of the impending trial and the video shot around the web. The video has been seen more than 60,000 times since Thursday. The video and article can be viewed here: http://www.shellguilty.com/wiwa-v-shell-video/

In addition, ShellGuilty campaign supporters have sent more than 10,000 letters to Shell CEO Jeroen van den Veer to deman an end to gas flaring in Nigeria, one of the key abuses that has animated opposition to Shell in the Niger Delta for decades and continues to this day. The ShellGuilty campaign is gearing up for a high-profile escalation of its activities in order to keep the spotlight on this historic case.

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ShellGuilty on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/groups.php#/group.php?gid=171744785281
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ShellGuilty
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ShellGuilty

CONTACT:
U.S.:       Celia Alario, (310) 721-6517, celiaalario@gmail.com
Han Shan, (917) 418-4133, han@priceofoil.org
UK:         Benjamin, +44 207 357 0055, carbonweb@gmail.com

The ShellGuilty campaign is a coalition effort of Friends of the Earth (www.foe.org), Oil Change International (www.priceofoil.org), and PLATFORM’s Remember Saro-Wiwa project (www.remembersarowiwa.com), with support from environmental and human rights groups in Nigeria, North America, and Europe. Visit www.ShellGuilty.com for more information.

A noon rally outside the courthouse where the historic Wiwa v Shell trial is due to take place was well attended by international media, Niger Delta activists and concerned citizens from across America. Here you can watch a video of the rally made by volunteer Nick Gulotta. Further video footage and testimony was produced by Caitlin Clay and Masha Medvedkov from human rights group Witness.  You can also view some of the recent news coverage here, and visit ShellGuilty for the latest updates on the trial.

Demonstrators called for corporate accountability, stressing that Shell’s human rights abuses in the Niger Delta continue on a daily basis. Flags and banners brought a splash of colour and to the civic buildings around Foley Square, Manhattan. Spokespeople from Amnesty International US, Friends of the Earth US, Oil Change International and PLATFORM.

Wednesday 27th May 2009

CONTACT:
Nigeria, Celestine Akpobari, Ogoni Solidarity Forum, +234 8032733965
Ken Henshaw, Social Action, +234 8034053707
US, Celia Alario, +1(310) 721-6517
UK, Benjamin, PLATFORM, +44 207 357 0055

Stunning protests swept three different countries ahead of the delayed Wiwa v Shell trial. The trial was due to open on 27th May, but the court announced a delay yesterday without setting a new date, saying that the earliest that jury selection would begin would be June 2nd. Despite the delay, hundreds of people across the globe demanded that Shell be held to account for human rights abuses.

In Nigeria, a rally, a candlelit vigil at the graveside of Ken Saro-Wiwa, and a mock trial were held at Bane, in Saro-Wiwa’s community. The events ran into controversy after Rivers State Police arrested a number of women activists in an attempt to prevent them from attending demonstrations. Protestors demanded their release, and eventually forced the police to release the detainees and respect their right to protest.

A noon rally took place in New York at Foley Square in Manhattan, near the federal courthouse where the trial had been scheduled to open today. A hundred supporters came out ahead of the trial, unfurling a banner that read, ‘JUSTICE FOR THE OGONI’. Inspiring speakers stressed that Shell cannot escape justice for their role in human rights abuses in the 1990s, and put pressure on Shell to end the ongoing environmental and social devastation in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region. A group of Ogoni activists closed the event by singing the Ogoni solidarity anthem.

In the UK, protestors in London targeted Shell’s London Headquarters at Waterloo with activists handing out leaflets to Shell employees while chanting, ‘Justice is coming’. The protests were coordinated by the ShellGuilty coalition and global partners. Photos of each of the protests are available to download along with a note of information. Click here for Nigeria, New York, and London.

Ben Amunwa from PLATFORM said, “This trial is long overdue. In 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa was framed and executed so that Shell and the Nigerian regime could continue pumping oil at a devastating cost for local communities. Global activists spoke in one voice today to demand that Shell held to account for its crimes.”

Steve Kretzmann from Oil Change International said, “We are pleased that Shell is due to be on trial in New York, but real justice is an end to Shell’s daily abuse of human rights in Nigeria. Shell continues to ignore the suffering of communities in the Niger Delta and to destroy their land and health with toxic gas flares.”

NOTES:

Ken Saro-Wiwa was a writer and leading activist demanding rights for Nigeria’s Ogoni people, including an end to Shell’s gas flaring in Ogoni regions. As a result of his activism, Saro-Wiwa was detained, imprisoned and tortured throughout the early 1990s. On November 10, 1995, Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists were executed by the Nigerian government for their campaigning. Substantial evidence indicates Shell collaborated with the Nigerian government in a campaign of brutal crackdowns that culminated in the execution of Saro-Wiwa and his colleagues. Shell may be forced to face this evidence in US federal district court in New York City. The court has said that at the earliest jury selection would begin on June 2nd.

For more information visit www.ShellGuilty.com.

Friends of the Earth International is the world’s largest grassroots environmental network, with member groups in 80 countries. Friends of the Earth campaigns on today’s most urgent environmental and social issues.

Oil Change International campaigns to expose the true costs of oil and facilitate the coming transition towards clean energy. Oil Change is dedicated to identifying and overcoming political barriers to that transition.

PLATFORM is a U.K.-based arts and campaign group focusing on the impact of the oil and gas industry on the rights of local communities. PLATFORM’s Remember Saro-Wiwa project aims to create a permanent Living Memorial to Ken Saro-Wiwa in London and to raise awareness about the ongoing environmental and social devastation of the Niger Delta by oil companies, particularly Shell.

Photos below: Campaigners outside Shell’s headquarters in London make sure Shell staff know their company is on trial. Photos courtesy of Martin Le Santo Smith. Click on the images for a larger version. [Journalists, to download the below photos at high-resolution, click here].

The Wiwa v Shell trial is set to expose the intimate relationship between the former director of Shell Nigeria, Brian Anderson, and the notoriously corrupt military dictator Gen Sani Abacha. Anderson is accused of collaborating with the Nigerian military in brutal crackdowns against the Ogoni people, which culminated in the execution of Saro-Wiwa and his colleagues. As the conflict in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta claimed more victims earlier this month, with Amnesty reporting ‘hundreds’ of civilians already killed in military raids, Shell executives could also face criticism over the human toll of ‘security’ in the region.

Human rights abuses are a daily by-product of Shell’s operations in Nigeria, and have been so from the earliest days of oil production. Ogoniland has been devastated by Shell’s non-stop gas flaring and repeated oil spills for over three decades. Fishing waters are barren, crops have failed and livelihoods have been lost. Shell are still abusing human rights on a daily basis by flaring gas, which exposes communities to deadly toxins like benzene. Any company with a serious concern for human rights would end this practise immediately.

Though the courts have ordered oil companies to end gas flaring in 2005, Shell have exploited lax environmental laws and the absence of safeguards against human rights abuses to continue gas flaring in unimaginable quantities.

Plaintiffs in Niger Delta with little experience of litigation and limited access to expert witnesses often fail to win justice in Nigeria. Communities and activists are now seeking justice elsewhere by teaming up with human rights lawyers in partnerships that open up a new front in the struggle for corporate accountability. The U.S. Alien Tort Statute, used in Wiwa v Shell, provides one vehicle for companies or individuals to be held accountable for human rights abuses abroad. Activists are bringing cases against Shell in the Netherlands and other multinationals in France and Ecuador.

The struggle for accountability is not without challenges. Wiwa v Shell spent twelve years working through the US justice system. Shell have enlisted some of the highest paid lawyers in corporate world to defend themselves, and they have fought hard to prevent the case from going to trial. Against the odds, the Ogoni plaintiffs are about to force one of the world’s largest corporations into the courtroom.

The high-rise, civic architecture of the New York District Court could hardly be further removed from the polluted creeks and poor villages of the Niger Delta. As the court is due to hear about the brutal shootings, detainment and torture in Ogoniland, there is a larger community who want to see justice for the daily impact of big oil on their land and lives.

It is imperative that Shell is held to account for full the human and environmental cost of their operations. That includes the impact of daily gas flaring on the people of the Niger Delta. No victories for corporate accountability will be won overnight, but as this week has shown, campaigning and global court actions will highlight the crimes against humanity that complicit multinationals would rather the world forgot.

International Experts to Speak About Shell in Nigeria, Then and Now

Who: International experts and campaigners, supporters of corporate accountability, human rights, and environmental justice.  Speakers to include:  Brent Blackwelder, Executive Director of Friends of the Earth, Steve Kretzmann, Executive Director of Oil Change International and Ben Anumwa, campaigner from PLATFORM. (see bios below)

What: Rally, speakers, creative political theater

Where: Foley Square, Manhattan, at the ‘Triumph of the Spirit Monument’ across from U.S. Federal Courthouse

When: 12:00pm Noon, Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Why: Rally to support landmark trial, and call for end to Shell’s abuses in Nigeria

New York–A rally will proceed as scheduled in Foley Square, close to the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse beginning at noon tomorrow, Wednesday May 27, despite a last minute announcement today of a delay in the opening of the landmark Wiwa v. Shell trial.

International experts and campaigners will be on hand to provide commentary and up-to-the-minute analysis on the current situation, including ongoing gas flaring in the Niger Delta. The rally is being organized by members of the ShellGuilty Campaign: a coalition effort of Friends of the Earth U.S. and Friends of the Earth International, Oil Change International and PLATFORM’s Remember Saro-Wiwa project, with support from environmental and human rights groups in Nigeria, North America, and Europe.

The rally in New York tomorrow follows after troops broke up peaceful protests in Nigeria today, where activists from Ogoni and other communities were barred from solidarity rallies and some arrested by soldiers attached to the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Rivers State. Most of those arrested are women (in 5 buses) were on their way to Ken Saro-Wiwa’s village for a rally to protest the complicity of Shell and the Nigerian government in the Ogoni murders in advance of the opening of the trial in New York.

Visit www.ShellGuilty.com for more information on gas flaring, and our efforts to demand that Shell comes clean, and ends gas flaring once and for all.

Background:

After more than thirteen years, multinational oil giant Royal Dutch Shell must finally answer to charges that it conspired with the Nigerian military to bring about the execution of Nigerian human rights and environmental leader Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his colleagues. The November 10, 1995 executions of the ‘Ogoni 9’ caused global outrage, and a massive backlash against the company.

Shell also faces charges for arming, financing, and transporting the Nigerian military, which conducted raids on villages that resulted in beatings, torture, shootings, and killings of innocent people in the Ogoni region of the Niger Delta. The plaintiffs, including Saro-Wiwa’s family, charge Shell with colluding with the military to suppress nonviolent opposition to its operations in the oil-rich Delta region.

The historic trial will open in the wake of recent raids by the Nigerian military in the Niger Delta, which local people have said resulted in massacres of civilians. The military has said its operations intended to root out armed groups that are opposed to the exploitation of oil resources by foreign multinationals.

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International Experts Available for Interviews and Analysis:

Steve Kretzmann is Executive Director of Oil Change International and has worked on international oil issues for more than 20 years. He was an advisor to Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People. In April 2009, he testified in the US Congress regarding the impact of the oil industry on the Niger Delta. Cell: +1 202 497 1033

Ben Amunwa is a campaigner for PLATFORM, a charity that focuses on the impact of the oil industry on local communities. He coordinates remember saro-wiwa, a project to create a Living Memorial to Ken Saro-Wiwa in London, UK. The project uses art and activism to raise awareness about the ongoing injustices in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta. Ben has relatives in oil-bearing communities in the Niger Delta. Cell: +1 617 717 4653

Han Shan is ShellGuilty Campaign Coordinator for Oil Change International. A longtime human rights and environmental activist and film producer, he’s traveled internationally investigating human rights and social justice issues. Han and be video blogging and Twittering from the courthouse during the trial. Cell: +1 917 418 4133

Nnimmo Bassey is Executive Director of Friends of the Earth Nigeria (also known as Environmental Rights Action). Nnimmo established the organization in response to human rights abuses in Nigeria that have stemmed from the unbridled pursuit of natural resources by both government and transnational corporations. Over the 9-year history of Friends of the Earth Nigeria, Nnimmo has suffered arrests and harassments aimed at silencing him and preventing him from associating with other advocacy groups. Tel/Fax: +234-52-880-619. Cell: +234 803 727 4395