Simon Mann Simon Mann Simon Francis Mann (born 26 June 1952) is a former British Army officer and mercenary. He served part of a 34-year prison sentence in Equatorial Guinea for his role in a failed coup d'état in 2004, before receiving a presidential pardon on humanitarian grounds on 2 November 2009. Mann was extradited from Zimbabwe to Equatorial Guinea on 1 February 2008, having been accused of planning a "coup d'état" to overthrow the government by leading a mercenary force into the capital Malabo in an effort to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. Charges in South Africa of aiding a
Equatorial Guinea–Spain relations relations with Equatorial Guinea due to repression by President Nguema and his verbal attacks against the Spanish government. By 1978, Spain was prepared to send troops to the nation to intervene and evacuate its citizens if they were particularly targeted by President Nguema. In August 1979, a coup d'état was led by Lieutenant Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the nephew of President Nguema. That same month, Lieutenant Obiang formerly asked the Spanish government for military assistant, however, it was refused. That same month, President Nguema was captured by opposition forces and executed. Lieutenant Obiang became the second President of Equatorial Guinea.