Equatorial Guinea to try coup plot Briton

By Bernardino Ndze Biyoa

Mann, 55, was flown last week to oil producer Equatorial Guinea, which has faced sharp international criticism for human rights abuses, after losing a legal appeal against extradition from Zimbabwe, where he had been in prison.

"He will receive a fair trial with all procedural and institutional guarantees," the government said. It gave no date for the trial.

Mann was arrested in March 2004 when he met a plane carrying dozens of men and military equipment which landed in Zimbabwe's capital Harare on what officials said was the first stop on their way to launching a coup against Obiang.

Zimbabwe's High Court last month dismissed Mann's argument that we would not receive a fair trial and would be tortured if he were deported to Equatorial Guinea.

FLAMBOYANT CAREER

He was jailed for four years by a Zimbabwean court in 2004 for buying weapons without a license -- which the prosecution said were intended for the Equatorial Guinea coup -- and was arrested again after his release for extradition.

Thatcher denied any involvement in the plan, and eventually agreed a plea bargain deal with South African authorities.

After assignments that reportedly included stints in Northern Ireland, Europe and Central America, Mann left the military in the 1980s for a new career in computer security.

Mann was also involved in the establishment of Sandline International, which news reports said was involved in a brutal civil war in Sierra Leone.