Equatorial Guinea president pardons British coup plotter (Roundup)

Nov 3, 2009, 14:52 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, 57, was sentenced 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.

Mann's family, which raised concerns over his health and conditions in the Malabo prison where the men were jailed, welcomed the news.

'The family is absolutely delighted that Simon has been pardoned and is to be released shortly,' the Mann family said in a statement.

The former officer in the British Army's elite Special Air Service (SAS), and graduate of 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. They served four years there before being extradited.

Arms dealer Nick du Toit was among four South Africans also issued a pardon.

The information ministry stressed that the pardon was signed just before the arrival of South African President Jacob Zuma in Malabo for an official visit.

However, Zuma spokesman Vincent Magwenya denied that Zuma had put pressure on Obiang to release the South Africans.

'The answer is categorically 'No',' Magwenya told the German Press Agency. 'The president did not intervene.'

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.

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.