President Donald Trump said Friday that he will be pardoning former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who in 2024 was convicted for drug trafficking and weapons charges and sentenced to 45 years in prison.

The president explained his decision on social media by posting that “according to many people that I greatly respect,” Hernandez was “treated very harshly and unfairly.”

In March of last year, Hernandez was convicted in a U.S. court of conspiring to import cocaine into the U.S.A. He had served two terms as the leader of the Central American nation of roughly 10 million people.

Hernandez has been appealing his conviction and serving time at the U.S. Penitentiary, Hazelton, in West Virginia.

A lawyer for Hernandez, Renato C. Stabile, expressed gratitude for Trump's actions.

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