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Key witnesses denied visas
23/04/2007 21:21 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwean immigration authorities are refusing to grant visas to key witnesses in the extradition case of a Briton accused of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea, said one of his lawyers on Monday.
Former British special forces officer Simon Mann is being held at a top security prison in Zimbabwe after a court convicted him in September 2004 for trying to purchase weapons without a licence.
Although Mann is due for early release for good behaviour on May 11, he is fighting a bid by Equatorial Guinea to have him extradited to Malabo to face charges of plotting to assassinate President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
Mann's lawyers said on Monday they had been unable to call a number of international witnesses to the stand to show their client was likely to be tortured if returned to the oil-rich western African nation.
Sharply critical
"We had intended to call witnesses from the International Bar Association (IBA) and Amnesty International (AI), but our efforts have been frustrated by the immigration department," defence lawyer Jonathan Samkange told a court in Harare.
The IBA and Amnesty International have been sharply critical of the justice system in Equatorial Guinea.
Andrew Chigovera, Zimbabwe's former acting attorney-general and a former member of the African Commission for Human and People's Rights, testified on Monday he had seen reports detailing alleged prisoner abuse and problems with the justice system in Equatorial Guinea.
"The contents of the reports do not surprise me," Chigovera, a defence witness, told the court.
"As a former commissioner, I can say the reports are not inconsistent with other reports we received relating to the justice delivery system, civil and political rights in Equatorial Guinea."
Chigovera added Equatorial Guinea had not responded to any of the reports, as was required by the commission.
Hearing adjourned
Mann's hearing was adjourned until Tuesday to allow the state time to investigate the charges that Zimbabwean authorities were impeding their case and that Mann was too ill to be extradited.
Samkange produced documents on Monday that he argued showed Mann faced "life-threatening complications" if he did not have a hernia operation.
Mann told the court last week that he feared being killed if returned to Equatorial Guinea. The attorney-general of the Equatorial Guinea, however, said a death sentence would not be imposed on the Briton if found guilty at a trial.
Sixty-six other defendants arrested with Mann after their plane stopped in Harare served less than one year in jail after pleading guilty to charges of violating Zimbabwe's immigration and civil aviation laws.
Eleven others, including a number of foreigners, are serving sentences ranging from 13 to 34 years in jail in Equatorial Guinea in connection with the coup plot.
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