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Ken Saro-Wiwa
The novelist who turned Ogoniland's oil pollution into a global cause, and was hanged for it.
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The rise
Born in 1941 in Bori, in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta, Saro-Wiwa built a career as a novelist and television writer before turning to activism full-time, founding the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People in 1990 to demand a share of oil wealth and an end to environmental devastation in Ogoniland.
What they did
He organized mass, peaceful protests that forced Shell to suspend operations in Ogoniland and drew international attention to gas flaring and oil spills across the Niger Delta, winning the Goldman Environmental Prize in 1995 for the campaign.
The full picture
Nigeria's military government, later shown to have coordinated with Shell against the protests, arrested him after the killing of four Ogoni chiefs, convicted him in a widely condemned military tribunal, and hanged him with eight other activists on 10 November 1995, prompting Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth.
Why it matters
Saro-Wiwa's execution turned corporate accountability for environmental and human rights abuses into a global movement, and Shell later paid a multimillion-dollar settlement to Ogoni families without admitting liability.
“Lord, take my soul, but the struggle continues.”