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| Son of Nigeria's Ken Saro-Wiwa dies | Son of Nigeria's Ken Saro-Wiwa dies |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The son of renowned Nigerian environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was executed more than 20 years ago, has died in London. | The son of renowned Nigerian environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was executed more than 20 years ago, has died in London. |
| Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr, 47, passed away after suffering a stroke, his family say. | Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr, 47, passed away after suffering a stroke, his family say. |
| He was a journalist who became an adviser to three presidents. | |
| The 1995 execution of his father by a military government for leading protests against environmental degradation caused by the oil industry sparked global outrage. | The 1995 execution of his father by a military government for leading protests against environmental degradation caused by the oil industry sparked global outrage. |
| Saro-Wiwa Sr led the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (Mosop), which accused oil multinational Shell of destroying the environment in his home region of Ogoniland in south-eastern Nigeria. | Saro-Wiwa Sr led the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (Mosop), which accused oil multinational Shell of destroying the environment in his home region of Ogoniland in south-eastern Nigeria. |
| His execution after a secret trial under Gen Sani Abacha led to Nigeria being suspended from the Commonwealth. | His execution after a secret trial under Gen Sani Abacha led to Nigeria being suspended from the Commonwealth. |
| Noo Saro-Wiwa, sister of the late journalist, told the BBC: | |
| "It is with great sadness that we announce that Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr passed away suddenly. His family are devastated and request privacy at this difficult time." | |
| Funeral arrangements are yet to be worked out, the family says. | |
| Mr Wiwa was first appointed in 2006 as a special adviser on peace and conflict resolution by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo. | |
| He later served Mr Obasanjo's successor, President Umaru Yar'Adua, as an adviser on international affairs and stayed on under President Goodluck Jonathan until he lost last year's election. | |
| His willingness to work with the federal government marked him out as less militant than his father. | |
| But like his father, he was committed to the cause of the Ogoni people. | |
| In a 2015 opinion piece for the UK's Guardian newspaper, he wrote that the effects of the oil pollution on Ogoniland had still not been cleared up: | |
| "If my father were alive today he would be dismayed that Ogoniland still looks like the devastated region that spurred him to action. | |
| "There is little evidence to show that it sits on one of the world's richest deposits of oil and gas." |