I'm innocent, says hired gun suspect

The New Zealand man accused of being a hired assassin and imprisoned by West African rebels says he is innocent.

Hamish Sands has told the British Ambassador to the Ivory Coast that he is not a mercenary contracted by the Ivory Coast Government to assassinate rebel leaders.

Yesterday his sister, Catherine Sands-Wearing, said the ambassador had visited Mr Sands in his prison cell in the rebel stronghold of Bouake and reported that he was in good health and was being treated "reasonably well". He had given Mr Sands food and personal items, including a letter from Mrs Sands-Wearing.

The International Red Cross has also visited Mr Sands and confirmed he was in good health.

Mrs Sands-Wearing said the family was encouraged by reports that the New Forces rebels, who are holding Mr Sands, have nearly completed their own investigations and indications are that a release was possible. The rebels claim Mr Sands was carrying body armour, navigational equipment and an address book filled with the names of members of the ruling Ivorian Popular Front, Government forces and mercenary supply outfits, when he was captured a week ago. They say the 36-year-old former Hawkes Bay man, who was discharged from the French Foreign Legion, was hired to assassinate two of their leaders and that he has connections to a British private military company.

But Mr Sands' family say in reality he is a man with serious psychological problems and doubted whether there was any truth to the allegations that he was a mercenary.

They still do not know what he was doing in the Ivory Coast, which has been locked in a low-level civil war since September 2002.

Last week, the rebels told the Herald they wanted documentation proving Mr Sands suffers psychological problems before considering his release. Mrs Sands-Wearing said this documentation had now been provided, but would not give details of what it contained.

She thanked the New Forces rebels for treating her brother well, but said the family remained concerned for his safety.

"We do not believe he represents any threat to the New Forces and again we ask he be released and be allowed to leave the country."

Senior rebel official Cisse Sindou last week said Mr Sands would be released to the UN if he was found innocent, but if he was found guilty he would be jailed until the end of the civil war.

The rebels have given an assurance Mr Sands will not be executed.