Mann’s lawyer appeals to ICJ

HARARE ─ Jonathan Samkange, the lawyer representing alleged British mercenary, Simon Mann who was forcibly seized from his tiny cell at Chikurubi Maximum Prison and flown to Equatorial Guinea to face treason charges, has appealed to the International Court of Justice against the illegal and clandestine deportation of his client by the Zimbabwean Government.
 
Mann, 55, had lost an appeal against extradition in the High Court on Wednesday, where his legal team argued that he would face torture and a likely death sentence in a nation with one of the worst human rights records in Africa.
 
Samkange had been processing Mann’s urgent application in the country’s Supreme Court when news filtered that the ex-SAS officer had already been deported.
 
Information gathered indicated that Mann was placed on an Equatorial Guinea military plane which was waiting at Manyame Air Base in the early hours of Thursday after being handed over to Equatorial Guinea officials.
 
He had been collected from Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison at 04:30am by officers from the notorious Law and Order Section and taken to Manyame Airbase, where he was immediately flown to Equatorial Guinea where he is due to face fresh charges of treason.
 
He was arrested in March 2004 when his private plane landed at the Harare International Airport. He denied plotting a coup.
 
His co-accused got 12 months in jail for breaking immigration laws while his two pilots got 16 months.