The attorney-general of Equatorial Guinea refused yesterday to affirm that a former SAS officer accused of plotting to overthrow his government would be treated humanely in the country’s most notorious prison.

José Oló Obono was appearing before a panel of law lords seeking a damages action against Simon Mann and his alleged plot instigators.

Mr Mann, who served with the SAS in the late 1970s, is feared to have been transferred from a Zimbabwean prison to the Black Beach jail in Equatorial Guinea, in breach of a pending application in Harare to stop his extradition. Although the details remain sketchy, it appears that he arrived on Saturday.

Amanda Mann, his wife, condemned the government of Equatorial Guinea for trying to seek redress through the British legal system for the alleged plot while failing to guarantee her husband’s welfare.

“I believe that Equatorial Guinea has conspired with elements of the Mugabe regime to have my husband kidnapped with complete disregard for his legal and human rights,” Mrs Mann said.

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

Mrs Mann, 41, has not seen her husband since his arrest at Harare airport with 67 other former soldiers in March 2004. They were charged with illegally buying arms. After his release last year, Mr Mann was re-arrested on an extradition warrant from Equatorial Guinea, which accused him of plotting to overthrow President Nguema, the country’s dictator.

Mr Mann denies plotting to overthrow Mr Nguema. He claimed that the group arrested at Harare airport, all former South African soldiers, were heading for the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they had been contracted to guard a mine.

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