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State TV South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation reports a total of 31 people have been pardoned by President Salva Kiir as a goodwill gesture to rejuvenate the country's stalled peace process.
Among them is Peter Biar Ajak, a "Lost Boy of Sudan" who came to the U.S. as a youth and went to Central High School and La Salle University.
He was arrested in South Sudan in the July 2018. His friends and family say he was jailed as retaliation for speaking out against corruption in the government.
Peter was charged in March, and in June was sentenced to two years in jail.
Ryan Meisser, who met and became friends with Ajak at La Salle, says he and all the people form around the world trying to get Ajak released are relieved by the news.
"Peter has an unbelievable network of friends and colleagues around the whole world with connections to upper echelons of government and in the civilian world as well. It was just really, I've never seen so many people come together really on one's behalf," Meisser said.
Ajak's attorneys, family, and friends say he was punished for doing interviews with the media outside of the country.