Simon Mann
- For other people called Simon Mann, see Simon Mann (disambiguation)
Simon Mann (B. 26 June 1952) is a security expert, mercenary and former British Army officer, and South African citizen presently facing extradition to Equatorial Guinea, against which he is accused of leading a failed coup d'etat. Once extradited and convicted, he is likely to serve a minimum 30 year prison sentence at Black Beach prison. He lost an extradition hearing to Equatorial Guinea after serving 3 years of a 4 year prison sentence in Zimbabwe for the same crimes and being released early on good behavior.[1]
He was accused of planning to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea by leading a mercenary force into the capital Malabo in an effort to kidnap or kill president Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. The charges in South Africa against him were dropped on 23 February, 2007 [2], but remain in Equatorial Guinea, where he was convicted in absentia in November, 2004.
Biography
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 1990/1991 Gulf War.
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 off its oil installations. The Angolan government under Jose Eduardo dos Santos sought out 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.
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.
In 2002 Mann played Colonel Wilford of the Parachute Regiment for Granada Television's Bloody Sunday, a dramatisation by Paul Greengrass of the events of Bloody Sunday.
Sandline International announced the closure of the company's operations on April 16 2004.
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 mining industry. 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, Sir Mark Thatcher, son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was arrested at his home in Cape Town. He was eventually found guilty (under a plea bargain) to negligently supplying financial assistance for the plot.
CNN reporting on the August 25, about the court case in Equatorial Guinea of the 14 alleged mercenary advanced guard that:
- Defendant Nick du Toit said he was introduced to Thatcher in South Africa last year by Simon Mann, the leader of 70 men arrested in Zimbabwe in March suspected of being a group of mercenaries heading to Equatorial Guinea.
The BBC reported in an article entitled "Q&A: Equatorial Guinea coup plot":
- The BBC's Newsnight television programme saw the financial records of Simon Mann's companies showing large payments to Nick du Toit and also some $2m coming in - though the source of this funding they say is largely untraceable.
The BBC reported on September 10 2004 that in Zimbabwe:
- [Simon Mann], the British leader of a group of 67 alleged mercenaries accused of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea has been sentenced to seven years in jail... The other passengers got 12 months in jail for breaking immigration laws while the two pilots got 16 months...The court also ordered the seizure of Mann's $3m Boeing 727 and $180,000 found on board.
On 23 February 2007, the charges were dropped against Mann and the other alleged conspirators in South Africa. Mann remains in Zimbabwe, where he was convicted of charges from the same incident [1]
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 will likely be sent, is notorious for the 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 an appeal against the decision to extradite him.[1][3]
Trivia
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.[4]
References
- ^ a b Coup plotter faces life in Africa's most notorious jail Kim Sengupta The Indepedent May 112007
- ^ SA court drops coup plot charges BBC News February 23 2007
- ^ Mann in the middle of two African dictators Hugh Russel The First Post May 2, 2007
- ^ Coup! BBC June 30th 2006
A petition against the deportation of Simon Mann to Equatorial Guinnea can be found at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Simonmann/
External links
- Simon Mann Dossier, by Journalismus Nachrichten von Heute
- The Wonga Coup, Guns, Thugs and a Ruthless Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil-Rich Corner of Africa by Adam Roberts (Public Affairs, August, 2006)
- Licensed to Kill, Hired Guns in the War on Terror by Robert Young Pelton (Crown, 1 September 2006)
- Sandline
- Profile: Simon Mann, BBC
- Report of conviction, BBC
- report of conviction 28 August 2004, Reuters/CNN
- Q&A: Equatorial Guinea coup plot, BBC
- Report on sentencing August 2004, BBC
- Official website for Coup!, BBC
- "SA court drops coup plot charges" (BBC News, 23 February 2007)
- "Briton 'tortured by Zimbabwean police'" (ITV News, 23 March 2007)
- "Coup plotter faces life in Africa's most notorious jail" (The Independent, 11 May 2007)
- A Coup for a Mountain of Wonga
- British Mercenary Simon Mann's last Journey?
See also
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