Hamish Sands asphyxiated, says ex-partner

A former partner of a New Zealander found dead in a West African prison cell says he died of asphyxiation.

Hamish Sands was arrested in Ivory Coast in March by rebels who accused him of being a mercenary hired to kill two of their leaders.

His family in New Zealand begged the rebels not to kill him and said he had mental health problems.

The rebels said they would not kill him but Mr Sands was found dead in his cell last month. His family requested an independent autopsy, which was performed, but they have refused to say publicly how he died.

But a former partner of Mr Sands in Australia, who does not want to be named, said his sister told her the autopsy found he died of asphyxiation but was inconclusive as to how.

Mr Sands' family and friends have always maintained he was not the type to commit suicide.

A United Nations inquiry into his death has apparently been completed, but a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman, Brad Tattersfield, said New Zealand officials had yet to receive the report.

"But we're not expecting that it's going to be released anyway," he said. "It goes into the circumstances around his death and the family have expressed their wish that that will remain private and confidential."

UN reports such as this were not always made public, Mr Tattersfield said.

"And we don't know how much light the report will shed on it anyway. We're dealing with a rebel military group here, not a Government, and ... we may never know and the family may never know a lot more of the circumstances around this."