British envoy visits Mann in jail

2008-02-13 07:20

Malabo - A British diplomat on Tuesday paid a jail visit to Simon Mann, the suspected British mastermind of a failed 2004 coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea, national radio reported.

The visit, at Britain's request, enabled David Harris to "see for himself the quality of care Simon Mann has been receiving daily since his arrival" in Malabo, where he was imprisoned, the radio report said.

Mann, 55, was secretly extradited from Zimbabwe, where he had first been arrested in 2004, to the small central African country on February 01, and last shown on television six days later, his hands and ankles bound, but otherwise looking in good health.

Several military personnel surrounded him as he sat in front of a photograph of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. He sported round-rim glasses and several days' growth of beard, and appeared to be in good health.

Mann, once an officer in Britain's elite SAS special forces regiment, was arrested with 61 alleged accomplices at the Zimbabwean capital Harare's international airport.

The group was accused of stopping to pick up weapons while en route to Malabo to oust Nguema.

Mann denied the charge, saying the group was in fact heading to the Democratic Republic of Congo and needed the weapons to fulfil contracts to ensure security at mining operations.

Mann was jailed on arms charges for seven years, but the term was later reduced to four years and he completed his sentence last May.

- AFP