Protest Planned

Amnesty International of Harvard will table in front of Widener Library next Tuesday, with petitions calling for the release of Ken Saro-Wiwa, a political prisoner in Nigeria.

Amnesty will also show "The Drilling Fields," a movie about Saro-Wiwa's cause at 8 p.m. on Tuesday in Sever 110.

"The petitions will call the attention of the Nigerian government to what's happening and to the fact that it's not in accord with the United Nations statement of rights," said Stephen V. David '96, spokesperson for the Nigeria and Kenya Committee of Amnesty International at Harvard.

"We want to raise public awareness with the petitions and also get people to write personal letters to the Nigerian government showing concern and letters of support to Saro-Wiwa," David added.

An author and human rights advocate, Saro-Wiwa is a leader in the movement to protect the rights and interests of the Ogoni people, a minority group in Nigeria.

Since 1990, Saro-Wiwa has led the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, (MOSOP).

The group's main goal is to obtain compensation for adverse effects of commercial drilling on the Ogoni community.

A memo from the Nigerian Government to Shell Nigeria, a large commercial driller in the region, suggested the doing away with or "wasting" Ogoni leaders.

Ten days after the memo was sent, Saro-Wiwa was arrested.

"He's a prisoner of conscience," said David. "He has been imprisoned for expressing his opinions."

On October 31, Saro-Wiwa was sentenced to death for his alleged involvement in a group of murders, a charge that Amnesty International calls unfounded.

"We've generally gotten positive responses when we sent petitions before," David said. "The governments actually wrote us back and we felt we'd been heard."