Coup chief fails to raise £1m ransom

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Sunday Times

FRIENDS of Simon Mann, the former SAS captain jailed for his role in an abortive African coup, struck a £1m “ransom” deal for his early release. But it fell through when his family could not raise the money.

Sources close to Mann say an African president, acting as a go-between, made an approach to associates of Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe.

Mann, an Old Etonian, was jailed for seven years in Zimbabwe in September. He had been arrested at Harare airport in March en route to the coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea along with 67 fellow mercenaries.

According to South African sources, Mann’s influential network of friends successfully negotiated a financial package with Mugabe’s associates to secure his early release.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1400004,00.html

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1. Torture claim raises queries over Thatcher coup links

Financial Times
By Michael Peel in Lagos and David White in London

An alleged leader of a failed coup in the tiny oil-rich central African state of Equatorial Guinea has claimed he was tortured into confessing. He also denied that Sir Mark Thatcher plotted to overthrow the government, according to an affidavit seen by the Financial Times.

Sir Mark, son of Lady Thatcher, the former British prime minister, was arrested in South Africa in August in connection with the coup plot but denies any involvement.

Simon Mann, who is serving a seven-year prison sentence in Zimbabwe after being convicted of illegally trying to buy arms, said a separate statement admitting his involvement was "invented" by an Equatorial Guinea government lawyer.

The new statement raises fresh questions over the Equatorial Guinea government's coup accusations, which led to the conviction of 20 alleged plotters last month in a trial condemned by Amnesty International over allegations of torture and many other serious failings.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/b60dc646-4aeb-11d9-a0ca-00000e2511c8.html

[Vidar]

2. Damm, thought you were taling about the Shrub.