Call for fraudster Black to be freed

Former media baron and convicted fraudster Conrad Black was “harshly punished” and his sentence should be commuted by President George Bush, a leading US newspaper said today.

In its editorial, the Washington Times said Mr Bush, who has just a few weeks left in office, should “redress the scales of justice” in relation to Black, who was convicted in July last year and sentenced to six-and-a-half years in jail for fraud and obstruction of justice.