Wife of jailed mercenary begs: 'Don't torture him'

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Amanda Mann says she fears for the safety of her husband Simon in Equatorial Guinea, a country with an appalling human rights record.

The Old Etonian ex-SAS officer was flown to the country's notorious Black Beach prison last week from Zimbabwe despite being in the middle of an appeal against his extradition.

He had been jailed by Robert Mugabe's regime in 2004 for allegedly trying to buy weapons to topple Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Equatorial Guinea's president.

Mr Nguema launched a third attempt at London's High Court to sue Mann and others for compensation over the supposed coup attempt.

The court heard that he would give no promises as to Mann's treatment.

Mrs Mann, 41, said: "The government of Equatorial Guinea has conspired with elements of the Mugabe regime to have my husband kidnapped with complete disregard for his legal and human rights.

"I fail entirely to understand how such a government, which has no regard for human rights or for the rule of law, can have the audacity to seek the assistance of the British legal system."

Mann, the son of an England cricket captain and heir to the Watney Mann brewing empire, had already voiced fears for his safety if moved to oil-rich Guinea, saying: "If I go, consider me dead."

Simon Mann: Secret flight

Lawyers for the 55-year-old say his secret extradition was a "gross and deliberate violation" of his rights.

It is rumoured that Mr Nguema agreed to supply oil - or money - to Mugabe's cash-strapped regime in exchange for Mann.

Henry Bellingham, Tory justice spokesman and a friend of Mann, has asked the Foreign Office to do all it can to ensure he is fairly treated.

The North-West Norfolk MP said: "Whatever one thinks of the rights and wrongs of what might have happened, these are simply allegations."

According to sources in Equatorial Guinea, Mr Nguema has promised to sodomise Mann before having him skinned alive.

Torture is said to be routine at Black Beach and medical treatment non-existent.

Mann is a friend of Sir Mark Thatcher, who was given a suspended jail sentence under South Africa's anti-mercenary laws for supplying him with a helicopter.