"Homosexuality is a big thing in there. Young men are prime targets, and you have to be tough. Many of the men have Aids of course.
"Work is erratic. I once saw Mann and his people having to clean toilets with no protective gear. Another common job was burying corpses that were rotting, because no-one had claimed them from the city mortuary.
"If you fall ill there is no treatment. If you protest you are beaten. The only relief is sometimes drugs are smuggled in, usually by wardens."
After 16 months in Chikurubi, Nathaniel was repatriated and allowed to complete his jail sentence in Zambia.
Mann is facing extradition (see details, right) and years of imprisonment in an Equatorial Guinea jail. Zimbabwe prison may be hell. In Equatorial Guinea it will be worse. 
FIRST POSTED MAY 18, 2006 |
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‘Mann would always be manacled, hands and legs. They were scared he would escape somehow’ |
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SIMON MANN'S EXTRADITION
Simon Mann was released from Chikurubi jail on May 9. He was immediately rearrested because Equatorial Guinea, the object of his botched coup, want him extradited.
A Harare magistrate rejected Mann's claim that he faced torture in Equatorial Guinea, and allowed the extradition. Mann's lawyer, Jonathan Samkange, immediately announced a High Court appeal.
On May 14, with Mann back in jail, Samkange was arrested on a charge of violating immigration laws. He was freed next day and charges dropped.
It is clear that the appeal will not be heard in a hurry. Observers speculate that the Zimbabwe government will deliberately delay it, because as long as they hold out the prospect of sending Mann to oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, that country will continue to supply Zimbabwe with cheap and plentiful fuel. |
