Guinea seeks extradition of Thatcher's son

The central African country of Equatorial Guinea has asked South Africa to extradite Mark Thatcher, the son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Thatcher was arrested in Cape Town on Wednesday on charges of allegedly bank-rolling an attempted coup against the Equatorial Guinea Government early this year. He is currently out on bail of Rand 2 million and has had his passport and other travel documents confiscated by the authorities.

Thatcher son was planning to flee

The national radio, SAFM News, reported that state attorneys for the Equatorial Guinea Government had already made an application to the South African Government for Thatcher to be extradited.

Reacting to the report, the chief spokesperson for the national prosecuting authority in Pretoria, Sipho Ngwema, said the extradition

application would have to follow the normal diplomatic procedures.

"Mr Thatcher is currently facing charges here in our country and we know that Equatorial Guinea would also like to charge him in their country. But before any extradition application could be considered the normal processes must be followed," he said.

Thatcher's son held for funding coup bid

Meanwhile, the lawyer representing eight South Africans facing charges of treason, terrorism and "crimes against the head of state," in Equatorial Guinea has been quoted here as saying that Thatcher will also face the death penalty if he was charged in the central African state.

The state has already sought the death penalty against one of the South African accused, Nick Du Toit.