Lords refuse to continue hearing case against Simon Mann

Times Online — Lords refuse to con­tinue hear­ing case against Simon Mann:

A land­mark case col­lapsed in unprece­dented fash­ion today as the House of Lords refused to con­tinue hear­ing a claim brought by Equatorial Guinea against the alleged plot­ters of a failed coup because it will not allow one of the defen­dants to meet with his lawyers.

Simon Mann, a British for­mer SAS offi­cer accused of insti­gat­ing the plot, is being held at the noto­ri­ous Black Beach prison after being secretly extra­dited to the tiny West African nation from Zimbabwe last week. He has been pre­vented from meet­ing with either his lawyers or British con­sular representatives.

Equatorial Guinea’s stance so angered nine law lords hear­ing a dam­ages claim the oil-​​rich gov­ern­ment brought against Mr Mann that this morn­ing they abruptly adjourned the pro­ceed­ings indefinitely.

An inter­est­ing look into the British legal sys­tem, and its role in the inter­na­tional arena.