Alleged British mercenary to appeal extradition from Zimbabwe

Jul 25, 2007, 7:35 GMT

Harare - The Zimbabwean High Court will this week hear an appeal against extradition by alleged British mercenary Simon Mann, reports said Wednesday.

In May the Harare Magistrates Court ruled that Mann should be extradited to Equatorial Guinea to face trial for allegedly plotting to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema's government in 2004.

In his notice of appeal, Mann wants the court to nullify his extradition to Equatorial Guinea and grant an order to have him released from jail and deported to England, said the official Herald newspaper.

The appeal is due to be heard on Thursday. The former British special forces officer is being held at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison on the outskirts of Harare.

Mann completed his mandatory two-thirds of a four-year jail term in May this year, following his conviction in 2004 on charges of breaching Zimbabwe's firearms and security laws.

He is now being held at Chikurubi on an immigration detention warrant, said the Herald.

The charges against Mann arose after he and dozens of other suspected soldiers of fortune aboard a Boeing 727 were arrested at Harare International Airport in March 2004, allegedly while en route from South Africa to Malabo to stage a coup.

All 70 men arrested at the time denied the charges. They said were bound for the Democratic Republic of Congo to guard diamond mines.

Most of the men were slapped with one-year jail terms for minor immigration and aviation offences and were released in 2005. But Mann got a seven-year sentence, later reduced to four.

Earlier this year the Magistrates Court heard that Mann would face torture and possible execution if he were extradited to Malabo. But that country's attorney general claimed Mann would only face a jail term if convicted of treason.