The United States government has called on the government of Sudan to reverse a ruling to release a man convicted of killing U.S. diplomat John Granville.
On Thursday the U.S. called on Sudan to use all available legal pathways this week to reverse the court's decision to free to the man who was facing the death penalty after killing Granville in 2008.
The Sudanese Interior Ministry reported that Granville, from Buffalo, New York, was in a car on his way home early on New Year's Day when his car came under fire. He was hit by five bullets and died after undergoing surgery, the Associated Press reported.
Granville's driver in the car died at the scene from injuries after the shooting, the Los Angeles Times reported. He was identified by USAID as 39-year-old Abdelrahman Abbas Rahama of Sudan, who worked for the agency.
Granville was 33-years-old. He worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development on a project trying to advance democracy in Sudan.
The Sudanese man convicted of the killing was released on Monday, according to his brother, Reuters reported.
Sudan's Foreign Ministry said the attack was an "isolated incident which has no political connections,” Agence France-Presse reported.
