Inside Black Beach prison, the 'hell hole' awaiting Dog of War Simon Mann

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Exclusive: Mail on Sunday reporter is the first to go inside the "hell hole" awaiting Dog of War Simon Mann in the African state he allegedly plotted a coup against.

Shackled 12 hours a day, he'll never see daylight again

This is Old Etonian Simon Mann's worst nightmare - the grim prison cell where he is likely to spend the rest of his life in solitary confinement, shackled at the ankles for 12 hours a day.

Accused of plotting to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea, he will be considered a high-risk offender, never allowed outside and never again seeing the sun.

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A Black Beach cell like the one Mann will be locked up in

He will be kept apart from other criminals and have no access to the exercise yard or canteen.

Mann, 53, is known to be expecting torture and beatings and is said to be in despair over his impending extradition to what some have called the "hell hole" of Black Beach prison in Malabo.

Some of those said to have worked with him to overthrow the government of the oil-rich West African country are already serving long sentences there.

And now he fears that police in Equatorial Guinea will stop at nothing to force him to reveal details of those who funded the alleged coup attempt - and that if he does, there will be fatal retributions.

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Captured: Simon Mann, left and another alleged conspirator, after their 2004 arrest

On its part, the government of Equatorial Guinea is keen to issue assurances that it will not beat or torture Mann.

The nation's Attorney-General, Jose Olo Obono, has sworn an undertaking that he will not seek the death penalty, that the Red Cross will be allowed regular visits and that Mann will be treated humanely and have access to lawyers.

Opening the doors of Black Beach prison exclusively to The Mail on Sunday last week, the authorities were keen to show clean and spacious cells in a newly rebuilt prison complete with a hospital wing and well stocked pharmacy.

Horror stories of rat infestations, overcrowding and malnutrition appear to belong to the past. Eight months ago the notorious old Black Beach was torn down and replaced.

Now yellow-painted functional buildings are separated by a concrete exercise yard, cordoned off from a huge expanse of sea by barbed-wire fencing.

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Condemned: A gaunt Nick du Toit, who is serving 34 years in Equatorial Guinea for his role in the coup plot, shows the shackles he wears 12 hours a day

Prisoners were lounging there, several playing jeu de dames, a board game similar to draughts. Others squatted in the intense heat, chickens pecking around them.

In the single-storey infirmary are ten empty beds on a newly tiled floor.

Close by is the canteen where 20 prisoners at a time take their meals. Stacks of blue and purple plastic mugs and dishes were piled on the kitchen surfaces, the walls freshly whitewashed. The air-conditioning was a surprise.

Outside the midday temperature had hit 30C (86F).

In the main building, the ground floor is one huge hallway with communal cells feeding off it.

Some prisoners use money given to them by their families to send out for sweets, chocolates, crisps, soap and other "luxuries" which they sell for a small profit at a makeshift stall.

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Fellow inmates in the yard

Up a steep wrought-iron staircase is the first-floor landing with wire mesh to guard against suicides.

Some prisoners had painted a jokey "No moleste" -Spanish for "Do not disturb" - on their cell doors. They were quiet, subdued, watching us with their dead eyes.

Eighty prisoners are incarcerated at Black Beach.

Jacqueline Gros, from the International Red Cross, makes her monthly visit tomorrow, and Amnesty International admits it has never substantiated claims of torture or - more far-fetched - cannibalism by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

Juan Ndong, head of the prison guards, said: "In theory we have a death penalty in this country. In practice it has not been in force for 15 years."

Extreme boredom and lack of exercise are much more likely to be Simon Mann's enemies, and he will need to overcome the hostility of fellow prisoners who hold him at least partly responsible for their own suffering.

On the first-floor landing at Black Beach his nearest neighbours will be four of his alleged co-conspirators, said to have planned to install a new president.

But Mann was arrested in March 2004 stacking an aircraft with weapons at Zimbabwe's Harare airport. He was jailed for seven years, but always denied the weapons were intended for a coup.

To his horror, three weeks ago he lost a legal battle against extradition to Equatorial Guinea to face trial over the alleged plot. His only hope now lies with an appeal to be heard in two weeks' time.

But he is thought unlikely to succeed, so when he arrives in Black Beach he will be reunited with his alleged "advanced man" in the coup plot, former South African commando Nick du Toit, who is serving 34 years there.

Du Toit told The Mail on Sunday: "It feels like I've been here my whole life. We are locked alone in our cells most of the time while other prisoners go out to the exercise yard and get fresh air.

"We don't have families living locally to bring us money or food so we can't buy any luxuries, even toothpaste.

"We cook our own food, mostly just rice, on a gas ring on the landing. That's the only area we are allowed to move around in. We were given grey and white striped prison uniforms but we can't wear them because we are shackled.

"When Simon Mann arrives he will see what we have gone through for three years and get a taste of it himself. Maybe if he tells them what they want, we will all get out sooner."

With Du Toit are Angolans George Alerson, Sergio Cardonos and Jose Passocas Domingo, sentenced to 17 years each.

Domingo told us: "My wife Susannah travelled here to see me and spent 20 days pleading with the prison authorities to be allowed in.

"On her last day they let her in for a brief visit. We don't have a lawyer so we cannot lodge an appeal. We hope Simon Mann can make a difference for all of us."

Equatorial Guinea believes Mann - a well connected SAS commander turned mercenary - and the 68 South African and Angolan soldiers who were also arrested in Harare planned to gun down President Obiang at an airport in Equatorial Guinea, after an advance party led by Du Toit had sealed off the area and set up road-blocks.

Mann's friend Sir Mark Thatcher funded a helicopter gunship for the alleged plot.

The regime can finally put Mann in the dock, amid rumours President Obiang agreed to supply oil to Zimbabwe's cash-strapped Robert Mugabe in exchange for the prisoner.

Three weeks ago, Mann told his lawyer: "Whatever happens, for God's sake don't let them send me to Equatorial Guinea. I'll be tortured and killed. I'll agree to anything but extradition, you've got to help me."

The regime is especially keen to learn the names of the financial backers of the coup and put them in the dock alongside Mann for conspiracy to murder the president, which carries a life sentence.

Equatorial Guinea offered to drop extradition proceedings against Mann immediately after his defence, in return for evidence of who financed his operations, but no deal was struck.

In a confession that Mann later claimed was obtained under duress, he named Lebanese oil tycoon Ely Calil, a British resident and friend of Peter Mandelson, and Equatorial Guinea President-in-Exile Severo Moto as his main financiers.

In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, the government's lawyer Henry Page said extradition was 'a desirable situation for a number of reasons: firstly to identify the financiers of the conspiracy; secondly to expose others, including foreign government officials who may have been a party to it; and thirdly to discourage such acts in the future."

Mr Page added that he hoped Mann would agree to give evidence and said: "Simon Mann's right of defence will be respected and I believe he will be properly treated.

"His extradition may prove to be the key to enable this whole sorry episode to be brought to an end."

Mann - who has two sons who are close friends of Princes William and Harry and a three-year-old daughter he has never seen - will come under intense pressure to reveal the names of British Government sources believed to have given tacit approval to the coup.

After a series of denials by British Ministers, the then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was forced to admit that he knew a coup was being planned as early as January 2004.

Mann's lawyer Jonathan Samkange said: "There are many wheels within wheels in this case. Even the documents read like an adventure novel.

"Once Simon was arrested I travelled to London for meetings with politicians to see if they could help him. It would not be helpful to him at present to name names, but this is one of his current dilemmas.

"While he is feeling bitter, and determined to spread the blame, he is nervous about revealing everything to the Equatorial Guinea authorities. He has never admitted his part in the coup and to do so now would be incriminating. This is a difficult time for Simon."

Mr Samkange also wants the appeal court to consider Mann's health. He apparently needs a hernia operation and has a painful hip condition. "You cannot extradite a man who is seriously ill. That is against the law," he said.

 

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