Mercenary suspect to be extradited

Former British Special Forces officer Simon Mann, accused of leading a coup plot to topple the government in Equatorial Guinea, is to be extradited to the oil-rich West African nation.

Today’s ruling comes days before Mann, serving a four-year prison sentence on weapons charges in Zimbabwe, was scheduled for release on grounds of good behaviour.

Magistrate Omega Mugumbate granted the extradition but Mann’s lawyers are expected to launch a High Court appeal

Mann, a friend of Mark Thatcher, the son of Margaret Thatcher, was arrested along with other suspects in Zimbabwe in 2004.

In an extradition hearing in Harare, state prosecutors argued there was clear evidence Mann, 54, was leading a group of mercenary suspects heading for West Africa when they were arrested.

Mann was detained with other suspects when their aircraft arrived at Harare’s main airport to collect weapons bought from the Zimbabwe state arms maker.

In a South African court in 2005, Mark Thatcher pleaded guilty to unwittingly helping to bankroll the coup attempt. He was fined and received a suspended sentence after the court heard he paid for the hiring of a helicopter requested by Mann, a neighbour in a wealthy district of Cape Town.

All 70 other alleged mercenaries were freed after serving minor sentences in Zimbabwe for aviation, immigration and weapons possession offences.

The group of mostly former soldiers, who claimed they were on their way to guard mining facilities in the Congo, were found with uniforms identical to those of the Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Ngeuma’s presidential guard, state prosecutor Joseph Jagada told the extradition hearing.

But Jonathan Samkange, Mann’s defense attorney, said Equatorial Guinea attorney general Jose Olo Obono, who testified in the case, failed to answer charges by international humanitarian groups of torture and abuse of prisoners, including other coup suspects.

He also said Mann had been convicted only of weapons possession and security charges within Zimbabwe and no evidence had proved his involvement in a coup plot.

Mann feared he would not get a fair trial and faced possible torture and execution in Equatorial Guinea, Samkange said.

Jagada, however, said the government of Equatorial Guinea gave assurances the African Union would approve any judge appointed to try Mann and he would not be executed if convicted there.

Defence attorneys say Mann needed urgent hernia surgery, but the state insisted he should be operated on by a government surgeon and not the private specialist he has demanded.

Zimbabwe signed an extradition treaty with Equatorial Guinea after the arrest of the coup suspects and has signed several trade and financing agreements with Obiang’s officials.

Both nations have been criticised for corruption and human rights violations ranking among Africa’s worst.

Part of the extradition hearing was convened in a makeshift court at the Chikurubi maximum security prison outside Harare for security reasons.

Mann, giving testimony in the prison court wore faded threadbare khaki prison fatigues, and appeared frail.

Andrew Chigovera, a law consultant and former Zimbabwe state attorney general, testified Mann’s extradition would not conform to international law and treaties, and provisions on human rights of the African Union, of which Zimbabwe is a signatory.

He said the West African nation’s judiciary used unqualified legal staff and did not meet international standards for the safety and fair treatment of suspects.

Last month, Zimbabwe rolled out the red carpet for a “friendship delegation” of senior officials from Equatorial Guinea who attended the country’s 27 anniversary of independence celebrations.