Simon Mann

Simon Mann

Simon Francis Mann (born 26 June 1952) is a British mercenary and former British Army officer. He had been serving a 34-year prison sentence in Equatorial Guinea for his role in a failed coup d'état in 2004, before receiving a presidential pardon on humanitarian grounds on 2 November 2009.

Mann was extradited (his word "kidnapped" because of there being no extradition treaty) from Zimbabwe to Equatorial Guinea on 1 February 2008, having been accused of planning a coup d'état to overthrow the government by leading a mercenary force into the capital Malabo in an effort to kidnap or kill President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. Charges in South Africa of aiding a coup in a foreign country were dropped on 23 February 2007, but the charges remained in Equatorial Guinea, where he had been convicted in absentia in November 2004. He lost an extradition hearing to Equatorial Guinea after serving three years of a four-year prison sentence in Zimbabwe for the same crimes and being released early on good behaviour.

Upon Mann's arrival in Equatorial Guinea for his trial in Malabo, public Prosecutor Jose Olo Obono said that Mann would face three charges – crimes against the head of state, crimes against the government, and crimes against the peace and independence of the state. On 7 July 2008, he was sentenced to 34 years and four months in prison by a Malabo court. He was released on 2 November 2009, on humanitarian grounds.