Lawyers for the alleged British mastermind of a foiled coup in Equatorial Guinea launched an appeal on Thursday against his extradition from Zimbabwe, arguing the move would amount to a death sentence.
A ruling by a magistrate in May that Simon Mann should be extradited to Malabo would lead to the former SAS operative being tortured and denied treatment for a hernia that would end up killing him, the high court in Harare was told.
”He is so ill he should not be extradited. He will not be able to withstand trial,” Mann’s chief attorney, Jonathan Samkange, told the hearing.
”Equatorial Guinea does not send its prisoners for treatment. It only allows doctors to visit inmates. If he is sent, it will be like he is being sent to die.”
Mann is wanted in Equatorial Guinea to face charges of conspiracy to attempt to kill the head of state, attempting to compromise the peace and authority of the state and conspiracy to illegally change the organisation of the state.
Samkange argued that Zimbabwe was obliged to turn down the request to extradite Mann on the grounds that he was likely to be tortured in order to confess his role in the 2004 coup plot against President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
”Zimbabwe is a member of the international community and international law imposes an obligation on Zimbabwe to prohibit extradition of a person to a country where they are likely to face torture or cruel and degrading treatment,” he said.
”It’s clear that Zimbabwe, being part of the United Nations and African Union, is obliged not to extradite the appellant. Not doing that would be to offend the established norms.”
Joseph Jagada, a law officer from the office of Zimbabwe’s Attorney General, said Mann had a case to answer citing ”a clear analogy of preparations for the coup”.
He urged the court to disregard reports of Equatorial Guinea’s poor human rights record by the International Bar Association and Amnesty International, saying the reports were ”unreliable”.
The reports were submitted by Mann’s lawyers to buttress their concern that Mann would not have a fair trial and he would be tortured in Equatorial Guinea.
Mann is currently being held on an immigration warrant at a jail in Harare after completing a three-year prison sentence for an arms offence under Zimbabwean law related to the alleged coup plot.
Samkange said Mann’s extended detention was illegal as the warrant on which he was held expired a week after it was issued in May.
”The warrant has since expired since it had a seven-day life and I apply for an order that the appellant be immediately released,” the lawyer said.
Mann was arrested with 61 others when their plane landed at Harare International Airport in March 2004.
They were accused of stopping off to pick up weapons from Harare while on their way to Malabo to oust Nguema, who has ruled the Central African state with an iron fist since 1979.
Mann said he and his co-accused were on their way to the Democratic Republic of Congo and needed the weapons for a security contract at a mine.
Judges Rita Makarau and Bharat Patel reserved judgment indefinitely. — Sapa-AFP