Coup Briton guilty

Simon Mann, the Briton accused of trying to start a coup in the African state of Equatorial Guinea, has been found guilty of arms charges by a Zimbabwe court.

Mann is a friend of Sir Mark Thatcher, who has been arrested for allegedly taking part in the coup atempt.

However, most of the 70 suspected mercenaries charged with weapons offences were cleared.

Most of the men held in Zimbabwe had last month pleaded guilty to lesser charges of violating Zimbabwe's immigration and civil aviation laws when their plane landed in Harare in March.

Sixty-six men, all travelling on South African passports, were found not guilty by a magistrate sitting at a make-shift courthouse in the Harare maximum security Chikurubi prison.

Mann was found guilty of attempting to possess dangerous weapons while prosecutors dropped charges against two and could not say the fate of one other.