Angola's president grants pardons to dozens of prisoners, including predecessor's son

José Filomeno Dos Santos, the son of Angola’s ex-president imprisoned for fraud, has been pardoned by the country’s current leader, Joao Lourenco.

Back in 2020, Dos Santos was handed a five-year jail term for fraud, after $500m was sent from the national bank of Angola to an account in Britain.

Several others were also sentenced; among them was the ex-governor of Angola's national bank.

The case was part of an anti-corruption campaign spearheaded by Lourenco.

The Dos Santos family, meanwhile, allege that they are the targets of a political witch hunt.

Dos Santos is among some 50 prisoners who have been granted pardons by the president; they are to be freed on January 1st.

A presidential decree posted on social media cited "good behaviour’’ of the convicts, as well as an "absence of social danger" in freeing them.

It added that the move was in connection with the 50th anniversary of Angola's independence from Portugal next year, and that the pardon sought to foster a "climate of harmony, leniency (...) and fraternity".