Family plead with Government to free ‘diplomatic hostage' jailed in Africa

Telegraph

23-02-2025

The family of a British engineer imprisoned on 'trumped-up' charges in central Africa has pleaded with the Government to do more to win his release.
The family of Peter Huxham, who has dual South African nationality, say Equatorial Guinea has made him a 'political hostage' in retaliation for the South African courts seizing luxury villas and a superyacht belonging to the vice-president.
The 55-year-old offshore oil engineer has been held along with a colleague for nearly 750 days in a case condemned by the United Nations as illegal.
The UN's body on arbitrary detention has issued a lengthy ruling saying the men were denied a fair trial and should be immediately released.
Diplomatic missions have failed
However, the government in Equatorial Guinea is refusing to comply and high-level diplomatic missions to the country have failed to win their release.
Mr Huxham's family say his mental health has suffered in prison, and they fear he will not survive his 12-year sentence.
Kathy McConnachie, his fiancée, told The Telegraph: 'I would just like both governments, South Africa and the UK, to try and do more. We need them home. Our lives are very empty without these men at home.'
Mr Huxham and Frik Potgieter, a South African, were working for a Dutch firm in Equatorial Guinea's offshore oil industry when they were arrested in February 2023.
Their detention came two days after a South African court ordered the seizure of a superyacht belonging to Teodoro Obiang Mangue, the Equatorial Guinea vice-president.
The courts had earlier seized two luxury villas in Cape Town belonging to Mr Mangue, who is the son of Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the president of Equatorial Guinea.
Mr Huxham and Mr Potgieter were accused of drug trafficking and each jailed for 12 years at a trial their families say was a farce.
The men were alleged to have drugs in their luggage, but their families say their bags, combination-locked and unopened, were still in their rooms five days later, when their employer collected them in the presence of hotel management and the local police.
The family believes the two men are effectively political prisoners taken to exert pressure on South Africa to return the vice-president's assets.
Equatorial Guinea's press and information office did not reply to Telegraph requests for comment.
The country's vice-president has long been accused of stealing his nation's wealth.
In 2021, Britain froze his bank accounts and imposed a travel ban for his 'involvement in the misappropriation of state funds into his own personal bank accounts, corrupt contracting arrangements and soliciting bribes'.
The Foreign Office at the time alleged his 'lavish lifestyle' included a £ 79 million mansion in Paris, a £30 million private jet, a luxury yacht, and dozens of luxury vehicles including Ferraris, Bentleys and Aston Martins.
Mr Mangue is also reported to have bought a collection of Michael Jackson memorabilia including a £218,000 crystal-covered glove the singer wore on his Bad tour.
He has previously denied wrongdoing.
Mr Huxham was born in Sussex to a British mother and South African father, before moving to South Africa as a child. He has spent much of his career working in the oil and gas sector in Equatorial Guinea.
His brother Mark, a Royal Mail worker living in Northamptonshire, said: 'I have sleepless nights. I worry about him. Is he getting enough food?'
Ronald Lamola, the foreign minister of South Africa, and Naledi Pandor, his predecessor, have both travelled to Equatorial Guinea to seek the men's release, without success.
The jailed men have been allowed only around 10 phone calls to their families in the past two years.
Ms McConnachie, who has been with Mr Huxham for 32 years, said he used his first call to propose to her.
Before his fateful trip to Equatorial Guinea, the couple had begun building their dream home in Langebaan, South Africa. Ms McConnachie has since finished it on her own, in anticipation of his release.
'I will do my best to survive for you'
She said: 'As I said to Peter one day, 'It doesn't help having all these belongings and all these nice things if you are not here to share it with us.''
The uncertainty around his case has badly strained Mr Huxham's mental health, she added.
'The first two times I spoke to him he was very strong, then the ones in the middle, he was very tearful,' she said. 'He had given up hope that anything was going to happen, because they don't hear much.
'The last conversation with him, he said, 'I have had a change of tune, it just came over me. I have to survive. I am going to do my very best and survive for you people and see this through.''
A Foreign Office spokesman said: 'We are providing support to Mr Huxham and his family and continue to raise his case with the Equatorial Guinean government at every appropriate opportunity.'