JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — British coup-plotter Simon Mann and four South African mercenaries have been pardoned for plotting the overthrow of the government of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, the country’s chief judge told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Obono Olo said Mann and his accomplices would be freed Tuesday morning and flown home. Olo said President Teodoro Obiang Nguema on Monday gave the five men "a full pardon for humanitarian reasons" for the 2004 coup plot.