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
Human rights in Equatorial Guinea member of banned political party died in police detention at Evinayong, ostensibly in possession of weapons for a coup. He died from a fractured skull, allegedly gotten in a suicide attempt falling from his bunk bed. Since September 2017, cartoonist Ramón Esono Ebalé has been imprisoned, for creating work critical of the ruling party in Equatorial Guinea. The chart shows Equatorial Guinea's ratings since 1972 in the Freedom in the World reports, published annually by Freedom House. A rating of 1 is "most free" and 7 is "least free". Equatorial Guinea's stances on international human rights treaties are as follows: