Saro-Wiwa was the president of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People. The executions of him and the other activists resulted from riots that resulted in four deaths in 1994. The activists were tried by the Civil Disturbances Tribunal under the authority of the Civil Disturbances Decree of 1987. However, the decree lacks the protections for human rights and court procedures defined in Nigeria's constitution and various international agreements the country has affirmed. A trial in which the government acts as accuser, prosecution, and judge is inherently unfair. It appears that the Nigerian government had predetermined that the defendants ought to be punished and went ahead to procure a tribunal of dubious neutrality to endorse its view; Decree 2 represents a total devaluation of human life. Footnotes