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| author/source:Zim Online (SA) |
| published:Thu 31-Jan-2008 |
| posted on this site:Thu 31-Jan-2008 |
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| Article Type : News |
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| Patel could not "act as both prosecutor and judge" |
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By Simplicious Chirinda
Harare - A Zimbabwe High Court judge on Wednesday dismissed an application by Briton Simon Mann to stop his extradition to Equatorial Guinea where he faces charges of plotting a coup in the West African country. Justice Rita Makarau, also dismissed Mann’s application to have the case referred to the Supreme Court. Makarau did not give reasons for the judgment that was delivered late yesterday afternoon. Mann’s lawyer, Jonathan Samkange, told reporters yesterday that he was going to file an urgent appeal against both rulings at the Supreme Court this afternoon. “I will appeal against both judgments. I am disappointed because this was a political decision as opposed to a judicial one. I believe this case should have gone in Mann’s favour,” said Samkange. The defence lawyer said yesterday’s judgment was prepared by Bharat Patel when he was still a High Court judge before his appointment last November as acting Attorney General. Samkange said Mann’s appeal should be dealt with afresh before a new judicial panel as Patel could not “act as both prosecutor and judge in his own court and in his own cause.”
An officer from the Attorney General’s office is representing Equatorial Guinea in the matter and reports to Patel who in turn liases with his counterpart in Equatorial Guinea. As AG, Patel is a member of President Robert Mugabe’s cabinet and an ex-officio of the Zimbabwean parliament. Mann, a former member of Britain’s Special Air Service, has been languishing at Chikurubi prison outside Harare waiting for his case against his extradition to the West African country to be dealt with at the courts. The British national has already served his full sentence after he was convicted in 2004 for breaching Zimbabwe’s immigration and firearms laws. Mann together with over 60 others were arrested at Harare international airport in 2004 while allegedly on their way to stage a military coup against President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. He denies the charge. Mann’s lawyers have said he faces severe torture and will not have a fair trial in Equatorial Guinea because his case is political.
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