Higgins shocked by Sudan pardon

BUFFALO, NY (WIVB) - Rep. Brian Higgins is strongly objecting to the pardoning of a man implicated in the escape of a man imprisoned for killing of John Granville, a native of western New York who was working in Sudan.

The president of Sudan granted a pardon to a man who aided the jailbreak that allowed the murderer of Granville and another foreign aid worker.

Mubarak Mustafa had been convicted of helping the two men escape the prison through a sewer pipe.

Higgins is calling on the U.S. State department to seek justice for John Granville.

In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, Congressman Higgins wrote, " I encourage you to continue to bring the full weight of our diplomatic resources to bear to effect the repeal of Mustafa's pardon and the capture of Hamad and Mohamed.... I look forward to working with you to bring the remaining killers and conspirators to justice under your watch, so that the Granville family may have some measure of peace."

Granville, a Buffalo native, and his driver, Abdel Rahman Abbas, were murdered by extremists after leaving a New Year’s Eve event at the British Embassy in Khartoum in 2008.