Plans for the reburial of the executed Nigerian writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and his fellow activists have sparked a dispute between the Wiwa family and the organisation which he represented.

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (Mosop) and the Wiwa family have exchanged a series of angry press releases, in a feud which appears to hinge on an invitation to foreign forensic experts to exhume the bodies.

Forensic experts from the United States-based group Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) were invited to open the communal grave where the nine "Ogoni martyrs" were buried after being hanged by the military government of Sani Abacha in 1995.

Mosop says the invitation was issued by the Wiwa family without the consent of the other families who would be affected by the decision.

But Ken Wiwa, son of the writer, has insisted that all the families were consulted, and that the offer of exhumation by the PHR team was "warmly received".

Since the executed men were buried in a communal grave, any attempt to identify the body of Ken Saro-Wiwa will necessitate exhuming all nine bodies.

Both sides favour the idea of a dignified reburial - though some relatives of the other eight activists reportedly believe that leaving the bodies where they are will help to keep attention on the case, and put pressure on the Nigerian Government for compensation.

Funeral arrangements

Some members of Mosop are reported to believe that the organisation should control the funeral arrangements, since Ken Saro-Wiwa's execution was the result of his being the leader of the organisation.

There is also understood to be resentment that the Wiwa family's international connections made it easier for them to engage the services of PHR.

The forensic team was due to go to Nigeria in April, but its visit has been suspended as a result of the dispute.

Instead, a single PHR representative has been sent on a fact-finding mission.

'Cheap political fame'

The widow of one of the executed men has distanced herself from both sides in the debate.

Esther Kiobel, who was married to Barinem Kiobel, said the Wiwa family had not sought her permission to exhume her husband - but also accused elements within Mosop of using the memory of the Ogoni activists to seek "cheap political fame".

The nine activists were hanged after a show trial in which they were accused of murdering four Ogoni elders. All nine had denied murder.

Their execution, which drew international condemnation, led to Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth.

The Ogoni people suffered human rights abuses under the Abacha regime - and gained little other than severe environmental pollution from oil production in their Niger Delta home region.