Simon Mann Receives Pardon

Simon Mann

Former British soldier , sentenced to 34 years for a coup plot in Equatorial Guinea, has been pardoned by the country's President.

An adviser to the president, Miguel Mifuno, told BBC News that Mann had to leave the country within 24 hours.

The Foreign Office said it understood the release was a personal decision by the President on humanitarian grounds.

Mann, who was sentenced in July 2008, admitted conspiring to oust President Teodoro Obiang Nguema during his trial.

Mr Mifuno said Mann had been released on humanitarian grounds related to his health. Mann had a hernia operation in 2008.

The adviser also told BBC News Nick du Toit, a South African convicted for taking part in the attempted coup, had also been pardoned.

He said the releases were timed to coincide with a visit to Equatorial Guinea by South African President Jacob Zuma.

Friends of have been hinting quietly for some weeks that his release might be imminent.

But the apparent timing, three weeks ahead of presidential elections in Equatorial Guinea, would be something of a surprise in a country where officials constantly fear concessions might be interpreted as weakness.

The 2004 African mercenary escapade in which Mann was the central player, was marked by intrigue, betrayal and deceit - and that was just on the part of the plotters.

If he is out and free to speak his mind, probably he alone will be able to explain what went on, why it failed and who was to blame.

Equatorial Guinea's Supreme Court Judge told the BBC that Mann would be leaving jail yesterday and his family were due out on Tuesday morning.

Justice Obono Olo also said he had met Mann in the past few days and said he was, 'in good health'.

The Ministry of Information statement said Mann was being pardoned on compassionate grounds, due to his need to have regular medical treatment.

Mann was very unlikely to travel to Johannesburg as he ran the risk of being arrested under the South Africa Mercenary Act.

Scotland Yard wanted to talk to Mann about possible involvement of Ely Calil and Sir Mark Thatcher in the coup.

In March 2004, Mann and 63 others were arrested in Zimbabwe on board a plane which arrived from South Africa. Its destination was Equatorial Guinea.

His extradition came after he had served four years in prison in Zimbabwe for trying to purchase weapons without a licence.

Equatorial Guinea, an oil-rich former Spanish colony, has been ruled by President Obiang since he seized power from his uncle in 1979.

Mann's lawyer had asked for leniency, saying his client was a pawn of powerful international businessmen and he had been 'not a co-author' of the coup plot but 'an accomplice.'

The former special forces officer apologised, saying he was not the most senior coup plotter.

Mann had implicated Sir Mark Thatcher, son of UK former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and London-based millionaire Eli Calil as organisers of the plot.

Sir Mark, who now lives in southern Spain, was fined and received a suspended sentence in South Africa in 2005 for unknowingly helping to finance the plot.

After Mann's verdict, Sir Mark reiterated to the BBC that he had had no direct involvement. He said he had known nothing about any plan to overthrow the government and added that he had already faced justice in South Africa.