{{A man convicted as an accomplice in the escape of four men who were sentenced to death over the killing of a US diplomat and his driver five years ago has been pardoned by Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir, a lawyer told a local newspaper.}}<\/p>\n
In statements carried by pro-government Akhir-Lahza newspaper on Friday, Abu Bakr Abdel-Razik said that his client Mubarak Mustafa was released last week after receiving a presidential pardon.<\/p>\n
Abdel-Razik did not provide further details or explain why Mustafa – one of four men sentenced in the case – was a beneficiary of the amnesty.<\/p>\n
John Granville, of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and his driver, Abdurrahman Abbas Rahma on 2008 came under fire from a hail of bullets just before dawn on New Year\u2019s Day in 2008 in a rare crime directed at foreigners in Sudan.<\/p>\n
Sudanese authorities eventually captured five men, believed to belong to the Islamic militant group Ansar al-Tawhid, charging them with the killing of Granville and his driver.<\/p>\n
Four of them were sentenced to death by hanging in 2009 but a year later they managed to escape from death row at the maximum-security Kober prison in the Sudanese capital.<\/p>\n
The Sudanese government at the time said the prisoners used sewer pipes to escape.<\/p>\n
One of the fugitives was reportedly killed in Somalia under mysterious circumstances, while another was re-arrested.<\/p>\n
The United States had called on the Sudanese government to \u201cinitiate a thorough investigation of the circumstances surrounding this escape\u201d and \u201cto prosecute, to the full extent of the law, any individuals or groups found complicit in the escape of these criminals\u201d.<\/p>\n
A former US official told media last month that Washington believed the inmates received inside help to flee the prison, but had no evidence linking anyone in the Sudanese government.<\/p>\n
(ST)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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