Equatorial Guinea demands handover of former PM's son
By Raymond Whitaker in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea
05 September 2004
Equatorial Guinea is willing to guarantee that it would not use the death
penalty if it were allowed to extradite Sir Mark Thatcher and other
British
citizens it accuses of involvement in a coup plot, the country's
Attorney-General, Jose Olo Obono, has told The Independent on Sunday.
Sir Mark, freed from house arrest in Cape Town on Friday after his mother,
Baroness Thatcher, put up 165,000 bail money, is being investigated under
South Africa's Foreign Military Assistance Act for his alleged part in
financing a botched coup against President Teodoro Obiang Nguema's regime
in
March. Equatorial Guinea officials are due to arrive in South Africa
today,
and may be allowed to question him, but the west African nation wants Sir
Mark and other Britons, including Simon Mann, an ex-SAS officer facing
sentence in Zimbabwe on arms charges, Greg Wales, a British businessman,
and
Ely Calil, a London-based oil trader accused of masterminding the plot, to
face its own justice.
Sir Mark's alleged fellow conspirators have far more reason to fear a
request for them to face charges there. Apart from President Obiang's
dismal
human rights record, British and South African law prevents extradition to
countries that have capital punishment, and Mr Obono has demanded the
death
sentence for Nick du Toit, one of eight South Africans on trial in Malabo
on
charges of abetting the coup attempt.
But in his tiled office in the capital's Spanish colonial-era presidential
compound, the Attorney-General said: "South Africa would simply try them
[the British residents] in connection with illegal arms trading. We accuse
them of crimes against the life of our head of state, of compromising the
peace and independence of our country. We have a better claim. If we give
an
undertaking to the British Government that they will not be executed, then
Britain should be willing to extradite them here."
He dismissed allegations that some of the accused in Malabo had been
tortured, saying: "At this stage they will say anything to get sympathy.
Their defence counsel are free to say what they want, but they have not
raised the matter." Amnesty International says, however, that a German
suspect who died soon after his arrest was tortured, and defence lawyers
have complained of intimidation and lack of access to their clients. The
trial was suspended for a month last week to allow fresh evidence about
the
abortive coup to emerge from proceedings abroad, and Mr Obono said it
could
be delayed further. But President Obiang left little doubt about the
outcome
when he said: "It is up to the court to decide what condemnation they will
set."
Previous coup attempts against the President, who overthrew and executed
his
uncle in 1979, were small, domestic affairs. Few paid attention to events
in
Malabo, which, according to a whitewashed obelisk at the harbour, was
originally named Santa Isabel in 1843 by its founder, the commander of the
Spanish vessel Nervion.
But Equatorial Guinea has become sub-Saharan Africa's third-largest oil
exporter since offshore fields were discovered in the mid-1990s, raising
the
stakes. International involvement in the latest plot, which collapsed when
Zimbabwe intercepted a planeload of South African former special forces
soldiers in March, has kept tensions high in Malabo. A large number of
foreigners were expelled from the country immediately afterwards, and
those
remaining are treated with suspicion and hostility. A force of Moroccan
bodyguards surrounds President Obiang wherever he goes, but there are
rumours that his health is failing, and that another coup attempt may not
be
long delayed.
According to a High Court action in London launched by Equatorial Guinea,
the aim of the plotters was to replace the president with Severo Moto, an
opposition politician exiled in Spain. Mr Obiang's government has accused
the former Spanish government of Jose Maria Aznar of complicity, and
according to Mr Obono, Britain and the US were "fully aware" of the
intended
coup. "We received warnings from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Angola, but
nothing from Britain or America," he said. "There are indications that
they,
like Spain, were prepared to recognise a Severo Moto government."
There is no need to extradite them they can be charged under the terrorism
acts.
http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/20000011.htm#aofs
Section1 subsection 4 makes it fairly clear the correct term is 'terrorist'
not mercenary or adventurer. Section 15 shows Archer and Thatcher are also
guilty of an offence (assuming they provided the money). Note the powers of
forfeiture under section 23. Section 59 clears up any extra-territorial
consideration and as none hold office under the Crown or were acting on
behalf of the crown subsection 5 doesn't apply.
Note that last sentence and what it implies. No trial under the terrorism
act = government involvement = end of diplomatic relations = no oil
contracts. If the UK government wishes to disassociate itself from this
coup, it can only make that clear if it tries those responsible. It seems
all these anti-terrorist laws have landed the government in a tricky
political position.
Anyone else getting a sense of schadenfreude?
