Equatorial Guinea President Pardons Five In Coup Attempt

November 3, 2009 11:57 a.m. EST

Johannesburg, South Africa (AHN) - British mercenary Simon Mann and four co-conspirators convicted of attempting to overthrow Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema have been pardoned by the nation's leader. The news was confirmed by the West African nation's information ministry.

Mann, 57, is being freed in order to undergo "regular medical treatment in the company of his family," the Information Ministry said in a statement on its Web site yesterday. Mann had been sentenced to 34 years in prison in July 2008 for his role in the overthrow attempt. According to reports, he was aided by the son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

According to the information ministry, Obiang signed Mann's pardon because he required regular medical treatment and needed to be with his family. The terms of his pardon include Mann being able to leave the country immediately on the condition he never returns. Four other co-conspirators are being released on humanitarian grounds, given the amount of time they have been in prison and the "need to rebuild their lives," the statement said. Mann a former SAS officer, and ex-student from Britain's renowned Eton College, was extradited from Zimbabwe in January 2008 to face trial in Malabo. Government records now classify him as a mercenary and he was subsequently arrested in Zimbabwe in 2004 along with 69 others. At the time of arrest Mann and his co-conspirators were attempting to collect a shipment of arms. He was convicted of firearms and immigration offenses in Zimbabwe and served four years in Harare's maximum-security Chikurubi Prison before being extradited to Equatorial Guinea in February 2008. At the time of seizure the plane being used to transport weapons had over $200,000 worth of arms on board. During his trial Mann implicated Lebanese-British oil tycoon Eli Calil as the mastermind of the attempt. Apparently motivation for the government overthrow was to seize control of the oil-rich country. Mark Thatcher denied involvement in the coup, although Thatcher was fined 500,000 dollars and given a four-year suspended sentence in South Africa for his role in 2005 scheme.

Court documents show Thatcher claimed he believed he was only providing a helicopter for an air ambulance company in West Africa. However, Mann said Thatcher signed on to provide a helicopter to transport opposition leader Severo Moto, then living in Spain, to Equatorial Guinea to take over from Obiang.

South African arms dealer Nick du Toit also was among those issued a pardon by Obiang. All five, including Nicolaas du Toit, Sergio Cardoso, Jose Domingos and George Alerson, have been given 24 hours to leave the West African nation and can never return, the ministry said.