Family says Sudan freed man convicted of killing US diplomat

By SAMY MAGDY
Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — Sudanese authorities have released a man convicted of the 2008 killing of a U.S. diplomat in a drive-by shooting in the capital, Khartoum. The release followed a 2020 deal between Sudan and the Trump administration that included compensation settlements for killings of Americans. Abdel-Raouf Abu Zaid was sentenced to death for the killing of John Granville, an official with USAID, and Granville’s driver. Abu Zaid’s family said on Tuesday that he was released from Kubar Prison in Khartoum the previous day. It wouldn’t elaborate. A Sudanese daily reported that the Abu Zaid family had paid blood money to the slain driver’s family, which is acceptable under Islamic law, or Sharia, observed in Sudan.