LAGOS, July 24: The body of Nigerian minority rights activist and writer Ken Saro-Wiwa, executed seven years ago to worldwide outrage, has been exhumed for a “decent” reburial, his family said Wednesday.

Saro-Wiwa and eight of his companions in the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) were hanged in November 1995 after they were convicted of the murder of four Ogoni traditional chiefs.

They pleaded their innocence, but were executed by the then military regime of the late General Sani Abacha, despite calls for clemency from Nigerians and from around the world.

International sanctions were imposed on Nigeria, which was suspended from the Commonwealth.

Saro-Wiwa’s younger brother, Owens Wiwa, a doctor, said experts from the US-based group Physicians for Human Rights were involved in the identification of the exhumed bodies.

The exhumation began last week, he said in a statement released to reporters.

“For now, we are concerned with the identification of the corpses and carrying out DNA tests on them. After then, we can talk of burial,” said the family member, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.

Since the activists’ execution and burial in a simple public cemetery, MOSOP and Saro-Wiwa’s family have clamoured for the release of the corpses for a befitting reburial as Ogoni tradition demands.—AFP