Far from giving any substance to such rumors, on the last Friday in December — on the very day when a special order was announced
granting a full pardon to people blinded by violent means — the state held a Banquet of Forgiveness (a sadaka, as it was expressed in the language of the land) for the benefit of all the victims of the Blinding Order.
He was given a prison sentence of 2 and a half years, but President George W. Bush
granted him clemency, although it was not a
full pardon.