A Briton held in Zimbabwe after allegedly masterminding a failed coup in Equatorial Guinea, which wants him extradited, has applied for permission to stay while undergoing surgery, a court heard on Monday.
In a letter submitted to a Harare magistrate who is considering the request to extradite Simon Mann, the Briton’s lawyer said his client was very sick and medical tests confirmed he was suffering from a hernia.
”We must point out that our client suffers from a further medical problem in that he needs a hip replacement,” Jonathan Samkange said.
”After the operation our client will need a post-operation period to recuperate in hospital until such a time when the wounds have fully healed and he has recovered for him to return to Chikurubi Maximum prison.”
Mann and 61 other men were arrested when their plane landed at Harare International Airport in March 2004.
They were said to have been stopping off to pick up weapons en route to Malabo to join an advance team led by South African Nick du Toit, who was himself arrested and then sentenced to 34 years in prison in Malabo.
Mann said he and his co-accused were in transit to the Democratic Republic of Congo when they were arrested.
Samkange said his client’s family wanted to have him treated privately and would pay for all expenses, ”which will include an ambulance to ferry him from Chikurubi Maximum Prision”.
Mann, founder of the now-defunct mercenary outfit Executive Outcomes, was handed a seven-year term for the purchase of weapons that prosecutors said were to be used to topple President Obiang Nguema, Equatorial Guinea’s ruler since 1979. The sentence was later cut to four years and he is due to be freed next month.
The court also heard a former African Union human rights commissioner who said Mann should not be extradited to Malabo due to its poor human rights record.
”Based on the information I have in my opinion Zimbabwe will be precluded from extraditing Simon Mann to Equatorial Guinea both under international law, and human rights law,” Andrew Chigovera said.
The hearing continues on Thursday. — AFP
