Mann jailed in E Guinea

2008-02-07 07:20

Malabo - A British man who allegedly masterminded a foiled coup in Equatorial Guinea has been jailed in Malabo after his extradition from Zimbabwe, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

Simon Mann, an ex-SAS officer, was flown out of Zimbabwe on a military plane last week and had been jailed in the Equatorial Guinea capital, the lawyer said.

"Simon Francis Mann was brought in the night of his arrival in Malabo to the central prison where he was locked in a cell with no communication with the outside world," lawyer Fabian Nsue Nguema told AFP.

Mann's London-based lawyer, Andy Kerman, had claimed on Monday that his client had been "kidnapped" after being handed over to Equatorial Guinean officials in Harare last week.

Mann was arrested with 61 alleged accomplices when their plane landed at Harare international airport in March 2004.

The group was accused of stopping to pick up weapons in Zimbabwe while on their way to Malabo to oust President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

Mann said they were en route to the Democratic Republic of Congo and needed the weapons for a security contract.

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

At the time of his extradition he was being held on an immigration charge and his lawyers were trying to prevent his deportation.

Mann's legal team applied on Friday for a court order for their client to be returned to Zimbabwe but the application was rejected by a high court judge.

The case made headlines worldwide following the arrest in Cape Town in August 2004 of Mark Thatcher, the multi-millionaire son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on charges that he helped bankroll the coup plot.

Thatcher pleaded guilty in South Africa to unwittingly helping finance the plot and was fined some US$510 000 (R3.9m). He has since left the country.

- AFP