South African engineers freed after two years in Equatorial Guinea jail

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South African engineers freed after two years in Equatorial Guinea jail

Two South African engineers returned home after spending more than two years in prison in Equatorial Guinea on what the UN called on “arbitrary and illegal” drug accusations.

Frik Potgieter and Peter Huxham, both in the middle of the fifties, were arrested in February 2023 after drugs were found in their luggage.

They were sentenced to 12 years in prison and sentenced to a fine of $ 5 million (4 million pounds sterling) but received presidential grace after a long campaign from their family and the South African government.

Their arrest occurred a few days after luxury active ingredients belonging to the vice-president of Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Nguema Obiang were seized in South Africa.

A yacht and two villas of Cape Town belonging to Obiang, who is also the son of the president of Equatorial Guinea, were put in the execution of a court decision.

“We are overwhelmed by relief and joy. The last two years and four months have been unimaginably painful for our two families,” according to a statement published by the two families for men.

They worked for the Dutch oil and gas company SBM in Equatorial Guinea when they stopped at night before their return to their home after a five -week stay in the country.

Families had called for the aid of the South African government as well as that of the British government because Mr. Huxham has dual nationality.

“South Africa expresses its sincere gratitude to the government of Equatorial Guinea for having envisaged and finally granted to this presidential forgiveness, allowing Mr. Huxham and Mr. Potgieter to return home to their relatives,” said a post on X by the South African Minister of Foreign Affairs Ronald Lamola.

The United Nations Working Group in arbitrary detention last year called for the couple’s release, saying that their detention was illegal.

Their families say that the couple was arrested in retaliation for the seizure of assets belonging to the vice-president of Equatorial Guinea.

The BBC contacted Equatorial Guinea for Comments.

A South African official told the BBC that it was up to the courts to decide the fate of the yacht and the villas, and that the government could not intervene.