Barabbas
According to the New Testament, Barabbas or Jesus Barabbas (fl. 1st cent.) was a Jewish bandit who was imprisoned by the Roman occupation in Jerusalem, only to be chosen over Jesus by a crowd of Judean citizens and Passover pilgrims to be pardoned by Roman governor Pontius Pilate at the Passover feast. == Biblical account == According to all four canonical gospels, there was a prevailing Passover custom in Jerusalem that allowed Pontius Pilate, the praefectus or governor of Judea, to commute one prisoner's death sentence by popular acclaim.