Equatorial Guinea president pardons British mercenary coup plotter

Nov 3, 2009, 8:18 GMT

Nairobi/Malabo - British mercenary Simon Mann and four others convicted of attempting to overthrow Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema have been pardoned, according to the West African nation's information ministry.

Mann was was sentence to 34 years in July 2008 for his role in the coup attempt, in which the son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher was also implicated.

The information ministry said in a statement that Obiang had signed Mann's pardon because he required regular medical treatment and needed to be with his family.

The pardon will allow Mann to leave the country immediately on the condition he never returns, the statement said.

The former SAS officer, and ex-pupil at Britain's prestigious Eton College, was extradited from Zimbabwe in January 2008 to face trial in Malabo.

The mercenary was arrested in Zimbabwe in 2004 along with 69 others when they attempted to pick up a shipment of arms and served four years there before being extradited.

Mann fingered Lebanese-British oil tycoon Eli Calil as the mastermind of the attempt to seize control of the oil-rich country during his trial.

Both Calil and Mark Thatcher denied involvement in the coup, although Thatcher was fined 500,000 dollars and given a four-year suspended sentence in South Africa in 2005 for his part in the coup.

Mann said Thatcher agreed to provide a helicopter to transport opposition leader Severo Moto, then living in Spain, to Equatorial Guinea to take over from Obiang.

Thatcher claimed he thought he was providing a helicopter for an air ambulance company in West Africa

South African arms dealer Nick du Toit was amongst the others issued with a pardon.