BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Congressman Brian Higgins is asking for answers after reports indicate the convicted killer of a Buffalo native was released from a Sudan prison.

Abdelraouf Abuzeid was convicted of the 2008 murder of John Granville, who grew up in South Buffalo. Granville was a Fulbright Scholar and Peace Corps volunteer who later became a diplomat for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Granville and his driver, Abdelrahman Abbas Rahama, were killed by Islamic extremists after leaving an event at the British Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan on Jan. 1, 2008. Granville, 33 at the time of his death, was supporting free elections in Sudan.

In 2013, Abuzeid was named a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the United States.

Four men were convicted for the murders and sentenced to death but later escaped from a prison in Sudan with the help of a man who was later pardoned by former Sudanese President al-Bashir.

Higgins later introduced a resolution condemning the pardon with the U.S. State Department posting a multi-million dollar reward for information leading to the arrests of two of the escaped men who remain at large.

“As a family, we are devastated that John’s murderer is walking free. We have been extremely disappointed in how Sudan has handled this entire situation from the beginning. It is saddening that the life of a US Diplomat means so little. We are praying that he is not preparing for his next terrorist attack.”

A statement from Granville’s family