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
2004 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état attempt for ample time to plan, mobile, equip and deploy the force." Smith, who claims he has received death threats since the plot was thwarted, said there was no response from British or US authorities to his warnings: The only thing that happened was that the US authorities froze the Equatorial Guinea money with the Riggs Bank in USA. On 25 August 2004, Mark Thatcher, the son of the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher, was arrested under anti-mercenary laws in South Africa after being accused of helping to finance the coup to remove President Obiang. Crause Steyl