The Council of States, led by Jonathan, meanwhile pardoned his former boss, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who had been convicted of money-laundering.
Jonathan has also pardoned a former ally accused of fraud and money laundering, increasing the cloud of suspicion hanging over his government.
But there was speculation at the time that he would be pardoned by Obiang.
In April an Iranian mother pardoned the man who had killed her sonjust moments before he was to be executed.
Egypt President Mohamed Morsi has pardoned all political prisoners detained since the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, but not those since he took office at the end of June, the Egypt Independent reports.
"When they decide to withdraw the clip, we'll withdraw the ban," snapped Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom, the communications minister.But if the aim was to shore up the law against lèse-majesté (under which a Swiss man was jailed for ten years for defacing portraits of the king and queen, only to be pardoned this week), it backfired.
He floated the idea that Mr Maskhadov, though a "criminal", could be pardoned if he surrendered.
After serving nine years and converting to Communism, Pu Yi was pardoned and got a job as a gardener.
Mr Lutsenko himself has fallen foul of Ukrainian courts during Mr Yanukovych's tenure: he was jailed in 2012 for embezzlement, then pardoned last year.Mr Lutsenko's own behaviour prior to the beating was far from exemplary.
This official was mysteriously pardoned, with the president's approval, after the attorney-general had equally mysteriously dropped the state's case against him.
President Lee Myung-bak (the ex-boss of a Hyundai firm) has pardoned dozens of chaebol bosses convicted of corporate crimes.As for Samsung, it is an admirable company, packed full of individual successes that managers (and not just ones in Asia) should study.
