From Pratibha Patil to Queen Elizabeth, when leaders granted pardon

By Viandra D'Souza

Jailed Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim, accused of sodomy, was granted a royal pardon by King Muhammad V of Kelantan.

Here’s a look at the many controversial pardons granted over the years.


General Fitz John Porter
Pardoned by: Grover Cleveland

Porter, a US army officer, was blamed for the Union’s defeat in the American Civil war in 1861. He was wrongfully charged for disobeying a lawful order by Major General John Pope and misbehaving in front of the enemy. This led to Porter being court martialled in 1862 and further being dismissed from the army.

Redemption for Porter came in the form of then president Chester A Arthur who commuted his sentence in 1882 and restored him to the military. Cleveland later followed up with a full pardon too, which did not go down well with Pope’s supporters.

Roger Clinton
Pardoned by: Bill Clinton

Among the 456 pardons that were granted by the 42nd US President, this one made headlines as the one pardoned was Clinton’s half-brother.

Roger Clinton spent one year in prison and pleaded guilty for drug trafficking in 2001. Roger’s plea was granted on Bill Clinton’s last day in the White House, a decision that raised several eyebrows. The President’s pardon also allowed Roger’s conviction to be removed from his criminal record.

Richard Nixon
Pardoned by: Gerald Ford

The 37th President of the United States, Gerald Ford, who assumed office on the heels of Richard Nixon’s resignation, pardoned his predecessor for his involvement in the Watergate scandal. The Congress had accused Nixon of obstruction of justice during the investigation of the scandal, for which he was tried and jailed. Given that there were no historical or legal precedents to guide Ford in the matter of Nixon’s pending indictment, in the end, he decided to give Nixon a full pardon for all offenses in 1974. This was termed as one of Ford’s most controversial acts during his presidency.

Alan Turing
Pardoned by: Queen Elizabeth II

This pardon came a little too late for coding genius Alan Turing. He famously killed himself after receiving a criminal conviction for his homosexuality.

Turing was convicted in 1952 for ‘gross indecency’. However, after nearly 60 years, he was granted a royal pardon, posthumously, by Queen Elizabeth under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy, following a high-profile campaign by scientists, including the late Stephen Hawking. Justice Secretary Chris Grayling, who announced the pardon in 2013 said Turing deserved to be “remembered and recognised for his fantastic contribution to the war effort”.

Pratibha Patil

During her tenure, Pratibha Patil, granted around 35 pardons – a record for any Indian President. Most of the convicts pardoned were guilty of major crimes such as rape and murder.

Questions were raised about her clemency when she granted full pardon to Dharmender Singh and Narendra Yadav, convicted for life for wiping out a family of five, including a 15-year-old girl.

Patil broke her spree of pardons in 2011 when she rejected the clemency petitions of three killers of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.