Former US Naval intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard, whose conviction of spying for Israel stoked fierce international passions, has been granted parole and is set to be released from prison in November after nearly 30 years.
The decision to free Pollard from his life sentence, announced on Tuesday by his lawyers and then confirmed by the US Department of Justice, caps an extraordinary espionage case after decades of legal and diplomatic wrangling.
Critics have condemned the US citizen as a traitor who betrayed his nation for money and disclosed damaging secrets, while supporters have argued that he was punished excessively given that he spied for a US ally.
Photo: AFP
Pollard is due to be released on Nov. 21, three decades after he was arrested while trying to gain asylum at the Israeli embassy in Washington.
Although the Jewish-American community has wrestled with how much leniency he should get, Israelis have long campaigned for his freedom. The government there has recognized him as an Israeli agent and granted him citizenship.
“We are looking forward to his release,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement on Tuesday.
White House officials strongly denied that the release was in any way tied to the nuclear deal recently reached with Iran, or that it was intended as a concession to Israel. US Secretary of State John Kerry, who testified before US Congress about the nuclear deal on Tuesday, told reporters Pollard’s parole was “not at all” connected.
Israeli officials have also said that, while they would welcome the release, it would not ease their opposition to the Iran agreement.
The Department of Justice said that US federal sentencing rules in place at the time of Pollard’s prosecution entitled him to parole after 30 years of his life sentence. Department lawyers did not contest his parole bid, which was granted following a hearing this month before the US Parole Commission.
Though parolees are required for five years after their release to obtain government permission for foreign travel, Pollard’s lawyers say they intend to ask US President Barack Obama to grant him clemency as well as authority to leave the US and move to Israel immediately.
However, the White House quickly shot down that prospect, saying Pollard had committed “very serious crimes” and would serve his sentence under the law.
“The president has no intention of altering the terms of Mr. Pollard’s parole,” US National Security Council spokesman Alistair Baskey said.
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