A Zimbabwe government spokesman hung up the phone when asked to comment on allegations of torture by youth militia, police and other state agents. The government has previously denied torturing its critics.

Lawyers, doctors and Zimbabwean exiles involved in the asylum process in the U.K. also claim that the Home Office is ignoring prima facie cases of torture and repatriating exiles who will face further maltreatment on their return.

The evidence comes as a high level delegation of diplomats from South Africa, Botswana and Lesotho prepares to visit Zimbabwe, possibly this week. They hope to establish whether conditions laid down by the Southern African Development Community for a free and fair election have been met. The SADC benchmarks, set out last year in Mauritius, state that political tolerance, freedom of association and full participation of all citizens are prerequisites.

Evidence of violence and intimidation was passed to the Guardian by an activist who has spent the last year documenting instances of abuse by the police and Zanu-PF youth militia. The activist photographed Tabeth Shoniwa, the MDC chair of Ward 5, in Epworth, southeast Harare, a few days after she had been doused in paraffin and set alight. Her crime was to have attended the high court in Harare on Oct. 15, 2004, the day the MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, was acquitted of treason. Shoniwa celebrated outside the court with other MDC supporters and in the evening Zanu sympathizers visited her home.

“A group of Zanu-PF youth who terrorize people followed her to her home,” the activist told the Guardian. “They called her out of her home and threw paraffin on her body and set her alight. She jumped into a well to put out the flames. There were other people there targeted and beaten. One man I saw had his face swollen beyond recognition, and another had his eardrums damaged by the beating he received.”

The MDC claims the country’s draconian laws on freedom of association are being routinely used to intimidate the opposition. In one recent incident, 25 people, including four women, were arrested for attending the funeral of an opposition politician, the source said. The women were beaten across the back and legs, and then taken to the hospital, where they were put under police guard, preventing the activist from documenting their injuries.

Evidence of the abuse and torture of political opponents has also surfaced in the U.K., where lawyers and doctors working within the asylum system claim the British government is repatriating torture victims because of a culture of “disbelief.” In November, the Home Office announced it was overturning its policy, adopted in 2002, of not repatriating Zimbabweans whose asylum applications had failed. The earlier policy was based on compelling evidence of state torture.

According to one doctor working with asylum applicants, the Home Office has rejected detailed medical evidence of torture in refusing asylum to many Zimbabweans. More than 10 Zimbabweans have already been returned to Harare, and scores face deportation in the coming weeks.

One victim was allegedly told it had been “foolhardy” to support the MDC, and Home Office adjudicators have in some cases advised victims to return to Zimbabwe and “seek protection from the police” when in many cases police were the perpetrators of the abuse.

The doctor, who declined to be named for fear he will lose access to patients, said Zimbabweans were among the top three nationalities presenting themselves to him with injuries consistent with torture. “I have done this for eight years, and in the past four years Zimbabwe has become one of the top three or four torture-producing countries,” he told the Guardian.

“In the past four years the cases of Zimbabwean torture have risen exponentially, both in terms of numbers and in severity. It appears that rape and sexual abuse have become systematic. I do not see how, in good conscience, the Home Office can send these traumatized people back to the hands of their torturers.”

Margaret Finch, a Birmingham lawyer with experience of Zimbabwe, said the asylum system was ignoring evidence of torture and abuse. “The Home Office officials often give subjective and questionable judgments. In several cases accepted facts of physical and sexual assault by government agents were deemed to be not of a political nature. It is inconceivable. I would like to see a return to the policy of not repatriating Zimbabweans. Nothing has improved in Zimbabwe; things have only got worse. What justification can there possibly be for lifting the ban? Everybody is infected by a culture of disbelief.”

A Home Office spokeswoman said the change in policy was prompted by an increase in unfounded asylum claims from Zimbabwe, but genuine refugees, including opposition politicians, would be protected. “This change in asylum policy is entirely about operating a firm and fair asylum system. It does not reflect any change in the government’s categorical opposition to human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. “We will continue, bilaterally and with our international partners, to push the government of Zimbabwe to end human rights abuses and restore democracy so all Zimbabweans can in time return safely to build a prosperous and stable country.”

When officers arrived at his home in the upmarket Constantia suburb of Cape Town at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, they found the Thatchers’ suitcases packed and in the hall. The house had been placed on the market for 22 million rand.

“That’s why we moved to arrest him,” Sipho Ngwema, spokesman for the Scorpions, told the Guardian. “We did not want him to leave the country while we were investigating him.”

Further details of the charges against Sir Mark emerged yesterday. According to police, they have evidence that he invested $271,000 to fund the logistics of the coup attempt. Ngwema said the Scorpions were confident they had evidence against Sir Mark that will stand up in court. “We have evidence that Thatcher has been financing the plot against Equatorial Guinea. We found information when we searched his residence that is going to assist us in the case.”

Sir Mark, 51, who denies involvement, is under effective house arrest for allegedly helping to fund the coup attempt.

Lawyers in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, said extradition proceedings had started against Sir Mark. “There has been an initial expression of interest from the government of Equatorial Guinea to South Africa,” Lucie Bourthoumieux, a lawyer representing the central African country, told Reuters.

State prosecutors in Equatorial Guinea, where 14 suspected foreign mercenaries are on trial for plotting a coup, have demanded the death penalty for one of the men, South African Nick du Toit. Sir Mark could in theory also face the death penalty if extradited and found guilty.

However, Makhosini Nkosi, a spokes-man for South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority, said he did not expect Sir Mark to be extradited. “South Africa is opposed to the death penalty and we wouldn’t extradite someone to a country where he would face the danger of the death penalty,” he said.

The alleged leader of the plot, Simon Mann, an Old Etonian and former SAS officer, has been in jail in Zimbabwe since March, along with 69 other men. They were arrested on the tarmac at Harare airport in Zimbabwe after landing to pick up a small arsenal allegedly to be used to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

By Thursday night three different explanations had emerged from the Thatcher camp for Sir Mark’s decision to leave South Africa. Friends in London said he had decided to move back to America months ago, hinting that it was a move designed to save his marriage to Texas millionaire Diane Burgdorf.

Meanwhile, one of his lawyers in South Africa said the family was “downsizing” to a smaller home in Cape Town because the children were going to boarding school in America, where the Thatchers would be spending more time.

But Thursday night his supporters offered a more sinister explanation. Channel 4 News reported claims, first made last month, that Sir Mark had received anonymous threats over his alleged links to the coup plotters.

Sir Mark was first interviewed about the allegations more than two weeks ago, after agreeing to a meeting with the Scorpions in Pretoria. “It was just a normal interrogation,” his friend said.

Meanwhile the number of businessmen and establishment figures involved in the coup plot was widening. Lord Archer, who was dragged into the controversy after $134,000 was deposited into Mann’s bank account in the name of J.H. Archer four days before the coup attempt, was at the Olympics in Athens. He referred inquiries to his lawyers in London. They said he had never met, spoken to or communicated in any way with Mann, but the statement stopped short of denying he had paid the money into Mann’s company account.

New allegations also emerged about the role of Greg Wales, a British businessman and friend of Mann. He was named in a writ issued in the high court in London by the government of Equatorial Guinea. He was also identified as a conspirator by Du Toit. Ashley Jacobs, a South African security consultant, told the Guardian that Wales employed him to conduct an intelligence survey in Equatorial Guinea.

“I now know, of course, it was for a coup,” he said. “I am very glad I didn’t go to Equatorial Guinea because I would be locked up too. Mr. Wales asked me to conduct a security and intelligence survey of the harbors in Equatorial Guinea. He also wanted intelligence on the politics of President Obiang’s regime.”

Wales told the Guardian that the allegations against him were “very good fun but unadjacent to the truth.”

Thursday night, Channel 4 News reported claims by Christine Gordon, a journalist friend of Wales, that he had attended more than 20 meetings with Sir Mark, Mann and others. Wales later released a statement admitting he had meetings with Mann and Sir Mark about various business deals involving Equatorial Guinea, but probably not as many as 20.

Another pivotal figure in the alleged coup plot is James Kershaw, a South African accountant who has been alleged to be the coup’s “paymaster.” He is named by Mann in a note smuggled out of prison appealing to his friends and family for help. Bank records for Mann’s company Logo Ltd. identify Kershaw as managing the company’s finances. He was unavailable for comment Thursday.

Mann also named other alleged potential investors in the smuggled note. As well as Sir Mark — referred to as “Scratcher” — they include an Italian businessman and socialite, Gianfranco Cicogna, who Mann claimed had promised $200,000. Cicogna was unavailable for comment.

Another businessman linked to the allegations is Gary Hersham, the founder of an exclusive estate agents in Mayfair and St. John’s Wood, London. In his prison statement in March, Mann said that before the coup plans got underway, he had gone on a business trip to Gabon with Hersham, who later introduced him to Ely Calil, the British businessman who is alleged to be one of the financiers behind the deal — an allegation he strenuously denies. Hersham was on holiday in Europe yesterday and did not return calls. But he has said he had no knowledge of the coup plot.

The Guardian ran a correction to this story on Aug. 28, 2004. You can read it here.

His appearance at a nearby magistrates court was then delayed, apparently because Sir Mark was robbed in his holding cell by other prisoners who, according to a court official, stole his mobile phone, shoes and jacket. All belongings were later returned.

Last night, he was confined to his home in the upmarket Cape Town suburb of Constantia after being released on strict bail conditions which require him to remain under virtual house arrest until he has posted bail of 2m rand (#165,000). He was also ordered to surrender his passport and stay in the Cape Town area until another court appearance on November 25.

In a statement after his release, he denied any involvement in the coup plot.

“I am innocent of all charges made against me. I have been, and am, cooperating fully with the authorities in order to resolve this matter. I have no involvement in any alleged coup in Equatorial Guinea and I reject all suggestions to the contrary.”

The drama began when the Scorpions arrived at the gates of Sir Mark’s large Cape Dutch-style house. They were met by his armed security guard and then Sir Mark himself.

He was allowed to shower and dress as the officers began to search his home and computer, seeking evidence linking him to an alleged plot to topple the president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang.

The coup attempt was foiled on March 8 when 70 men were arrested after flying into Harare from South Africa and attempting to collect weapons. They are accused of having planned to fly them to Malabo, the capital of the west African country.

All are now facing trial in Zimbabwe, including the al- leged coup leader, Simon Mann, a former SAS officer and close friend of Sir Mark. They deny being mercenaries and say they were buying weapons to protect mines in Congo.

The Guardian has seen a copy of a letter written by Mr Mann from his Zimbabwe prison cell to his wife, demanding that his financial backers use their influence to get him released. In the letter, he appears to suggest that he was expecting $200,000 from Sir Mark  using his nickname Scratcher  for an unspecified “project”.

A friend of Sir Mark, who inherited the baronetcy of his late father Sir Denis last year, described the charges as a “contrived plot”.

“He has been dealing with the authorities for the last two weeks, in fact he went back to South Africa specifically to do that,” the friend said. “They have acted precipitously in arresting him; he was giving them everything they wanted.”

He said Lady Thatcher, on holiday in America, was aware of the charges against her son. They had not discussed the situation by yesterday evening but were expected to speak soon.

Sir Mark’s lawyer, Peter Hodes, said the businessman was arrested on suspicion of providing financing for a helicopter linked to the coup plot. “He will plead not guilty,” Mr Hodes said.

The alleged plotters were said to be hoping to exploit Equatorial Guinea’s massive oil reserves by installing their own leader, Severo Moto, who is in exile in Spain.

A police spokesman, Sipho Ngwema, said: “We have evidence, credible evidence, and information that he was involved in the attempted coup. We refuse that South Africa be a springboard for coups.”

A further 19 men alleged to have been involved in the plot are currently on trial in Equatorial Guinea. Another defendant died in custody in suspicious circumstances.

Nick du Toit, a South African arms dealer who was leader of the Malabo contingent, testified in court yesterday that Sir Mark met Mr Mann in July 2003. He said Sir Mark had showed interest in buying military helicopters for a mining enterprise in Sudan, but the meeting was a “normal business deal” unrelated to any coup plot.

Equatorial Guinea’s justice minister, Ruben Mangue, played down suggestions they might seek Sir Mark’s extradition. He told BBC Radio 4′s The World at One programme: “Let’s first give an opportunity to the South African authorities and the South African legal system to handle the situation.”