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Simon Mann
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Simon Francis Mann (born 26 June 1952) is a security expert, mercenary, former British Army officer, and South African citizen who is currently serving a 34-year prison sentence in Equatorial Guinea for his role in a failed coup d'etat in 2004.
Mann was extradited to Equatorial Guinea on 1 February 2008, having been accused of planning a coup d'etat 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.
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Simon Francis Mann (born 26 June 1952) is a security expert, mercenary, former British Army officer, and South African citizen who is currently serving a 34-year prison sentence in Equatorial Guinea for his role in a failed coup d'etat in 2004.
Mann was extradited to Equatorial Guinea on 1 February 2008, having been accused of planning a coup d'etat 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 behavior. On the arrival of Mann 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 July 7 2008, Mann was sentenced to 34 years and four months in prison by a court in Equatorial Guinea.
Early life
Simon Mann's father, George Mann, captained the England cricket team in the late 1940s and was heir to the Watney Mann brewing empire that is now part of Diageo. George's father (Simon's grandfather) Frank Mann, also captained the England cricket team in 1922/23. After leaving Eton College, Simon Mann trained as an officer at Sandhurst and joined the Scots Guards. He later became a member of the SAS and served in Cyprus, Germany, Norway and Northern Ireland before leaving the forces in 1985. He was re-called to action from the reserves for the Gulf War.
Becoming a mercenary
Mann then entered the field of computer security; however, his interest in this industry lapsed when he returned from his service in the Gulf and he entered the oil industry to work with Tony Buckingham. Buckingham also had a military background and had been a diver in the North Sea oil industry before joining a Canadian oil firm. In 1993 UNITA rebels in Angola seized the port of Soyo, and closed its oil installations. The Angolan government under Jose Eduardo dos Santos sought mercenaries to seize back the port and asked for assistance from Buckingham who had by now formed his own company. Buckingham hired a South African organization called Executive Outcomes and Mann and Buckingham now became involved in Executive Outcomes' mercenary activities.
Sandline International
Mann went on to establish Sandline International with Tim Spicer in 1996. The company operated mostly in Angola and Sierra Leone but in 1997 the Sandline received a commission from the government of Papua New Guinea to suppress a rebellion on the island of Bougainville and the company came to international prominence. Sandline International announced the closure of the company's operations on April 16 2004.
Equatorial Guinea coup scandal
On March 7 2004 Simon Mann and 69 others were arrested in Zimbabwe when their Boeing 727 was seized by security forces during a stop-off at Harare airport where the aircraft was due to be loaded with £100,000 worth of weapons and equipment. The men were charged with violating the country’s immigration, firearms and security laws and later accused of engaging in an attempt to stage a coup-d'etat in Equatorial Guinea. Meanwhile eight suspected mercenaries, one of whom later died in prison, were detained in Equatorial Guinea in connection with the alleged plot. Mann and the others claimed that they were not on their way to Equatorial Guinea but were in fact flying to the Democratic Republic of Congo in order to provide security for diamond mines owned by JFPI Corporation. Mann and his colleagues were put on trial in Zimbabwe and on August 27 Mann was found guilty of attempting to buy arms for an alleged coup plot and sentenced to 7 years imprisonment. Sixty-six of the other men were acquitted.
On August 25 2004, Sir Mark Thatcher, son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was arrested at his home in Cape Town, South Africa. He eventually pled guilty (under a plea bargain) to negligently supplying financial assistance for the plot. The 14 men in the mercenary advance guard that were caught in Equatorial Guinea were sentenced to jail for 34 years. Among the advance guard was Nick du Toit who claimed that he had been introduced to Thatcher by Mann. Investigations would later reveal in financial records of Mann's holdings that large transfers of money to Nick du Toit, as well as approximately US$2 million coming in from an untraceable and unknown source. On September 10, Simon Mann was sentenced to seven years in jail. His compatriots received year sentences for violating immigration laws and their two pilots got 16 months. The group's Boeing 727 was seized, as well as the US$180,000 that was found on board the plane.
Charges dropped and extradition
On 23 February 2007, the charges were dropped against Mann and the other alleged conspirators in South Africa. Mann remained in Zimbabwe, where he was convicted of charges from the same incident. On 2 May 2007 a Zimbabwe court ruled that Mann should be extradited to Equatorial Guinea to face charges. The Zimbabwean judge ruled that he should be extradited to Equatorial Guinea, although the Zimbabweans have promised that he will not be faced with the death penalty. His extradition has been described as the "oil for Mann" deal, in reference to the large amounts of oil that Mugabe has managed to secure from Equatorial Guinea. The Black Beach prison in Equatorial Guinea, where Mann is likely to be sent, is notorious for its bad conditions. Inmates rarely get medical treatment and are often starved and tortured. One of Mann's co-conspirators has already died at Black Beach. Mann lost his last appeal against the decision to extradite him. In a last ditch effort on January 30, 2008, Mann tried to appeal the judgment to the Zimbabwean Supreme Court. The next day Mann was deported to Equatorial Guinea in secret, leading to claims by his lawyers that the extradition was hastened to defeat the possibility of appeal to the Supreme Court.
Response by UK Parliamentarians
Concern for Simon Mann's plight was raised in the UK Parliament in the year of his arrest in Zimbabwe by three Conservative Members of Parliament. In the two years after government of Equatorial Guinea applied for his extradition, three further Conservative Party MPs submitted written questions.
However, it was the sudden extradition which drew the greatest response. Julian Lewis said in Parliament:
His position was supported by three other Conservative MPs during the debate. Written questions were submitted by a fourth. There was a request for the United States administration, who has had access to Simon Mann in Black Beach Prison on 6 February 2008, to exert its influence "to secure [his] safe return".
UK officials were granted access to him on 12 February.
The only non-Conservative Party MP to submit a question in Parliament about him was Vince Cable, although an Early Day Motion about his treatment in prison has received cross-party support.
Equatorial Guinea trial
Robert Young Pelton, who was in Equatorial Guinea at the time took the first and only photographs of Simon Mann in Black Beach prison which were published in the Daily Mail. Although Mann's lawyer, the media and his wife Amanda (who, according to the Daily Mail has never phoned him or visited him) insisted he was being mistreated, the UK Ambassador Harris and the US Intel Officer visited Mann and confirmed he is in good health and good spirits. However, given Equatorial Guinea's dictatorship, and extremely bad human rights record, there cannot be a true guarantee. In a recent interview broadcast on Channel Four, Mann was filmed shackled with red wounds on both his arms and legs caused by the restraints. Furthermore Channel Four, whilst being told repeatedly by Mann (possibly under duress) and a Guinean official of the good conditions of Black Beach, noted no filming or viewing inside the prison was allowed.
On 8 March 2008, Channel 4 in the UK won a legal battle to broadcast an interview with Mann in which he sensationally named British political figures, including Ministers, alleged to have given tacit approval to the coup plot.
In testimony that could prove highly damaging to the British government, he spoke 'frankly' about the events leading to the botched attempt to topple Equatorial Guinea's president.
On 7 July 2008, Mann was sentenced by the Equatorial Guinea court to more than 34 years in jail.
Mann in popular media
- In 2002 Mann played Colonel Wilford of the Parachute Regiment for Granada Television's Bloody Sunday, a dramatization by Paul Greengrass of the events of Bloody Sunday.
- The alleged coup planned for Equatorial Guinea is the subject of the film Coup!, written by John Fortune. Simon Mann is played by Jared Harris, with Robert Bathurst as Mark Thatcher. (The film takes care not to suggest that Thatcher knew about the coup plot.) It was broadcast on BBC 2 on June 30 2006 and on ABC (Australia) on January 21 2008.
- Miramax Films reportedly is in development of a feature film version of Wonga, and production company, Shooting Stars (London) Ltd are also developing a feature loosely based on the press accounts of the Equatorial Guinea attempted Coup, entitled "Overthrow."
See also
Further reading
- - covers the coup attempt and aftermath by Nick du Toit and Simon Mann
- - covers the birth and rise of Executive Outcomes and Sandline as well as the events in Sierra Leone and Bougainville
External links
- , BBC News September 10, 2004
- , by Journalismus Nachrichten von Heute
- , BBC
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