Mann's extradition 'is death'
2007-07-26 15:25
Harare - Lawyers for the alleged British mastermind of a foiled coup in Equatorial Guinea launched an appeal on Thursday against his extradition from Zimbabwe, arguing the move would amount to a death sentence.
A ruling by a magistrate in May that Simon Mann should be extradited to Malabo would lead to the ex-SAS operative being tortured and denied treatment for a hernia that would end up killing him, the high court in Harare was told.
Mann's chief attorney Jonathan Samkange said: "He is so ill he should not be extradited. He will not be able to withstand trial.
"Equatorial Guinea does not send its prisoners for treatment. It only allows doctors to visit inmates. If he is sent, it will be like he is being sent to die."
Samkange argued that Zimbabwe was obliged to turn down the request to extradite Mann on the grounds that he was likely to be tortured in order to confess his role in the 2004 coup plot against President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
Zim 'obliged not to extradite'
He said: "Zimbabwe is a member of the international community and international law imposes an obligation on Zimbabwe to prohibit extradition of a person to a country, where they are likely to face torture or cruel and degrading treatment.
"It's clear that Zimbabwe, being part of the United Nations and African Union, is obliged not to extradite the appellant. Not doing that would be to offend the established norms."
Mann was being held on remand at a jail in Harare after completing a three-year prison sentence for an arms offence under Zimbabwean law related to the alleged coup plot.
He was arrested with 61 others after their plane landed at Harare International Airport in March 2004.
They were accused of stopping off to pick up weapons from Harare while on their way to Malabo to oust Nguema, who had ruled the central African state with an iron fist since 1979.
Mann said he and his co-accused were on their way to the Democratic Republic of Congo and needed the weapons for a security contract at a mine.