Pollard will be required to wear an electronic bracelet so his movements can be monitored at all times.
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Within hours of his release, Pollard’s lawyers filed court papers in NY City challenging the “onerous and oppressive” conditions.
Jewish American Jonathan Pollard(in pic) was released from almost 30 years in prison for passing USA secrets to Israel in a move swiftly welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel wants him sooner, but the United States says sorry, no.
But the White House repeated Friday that it would not intervene in the matter. But once the divorce finalized, Pollard married his current wife, Esther, who had worked on the campaign to secure his release. American intelligence agencies contend that Pollard’s actions were a “grievous betrayal” to U.S. national security. The organization said in a statement that after leaving the prison before dawn, the Pollards arrived at the apartment where they will spend the weekend and are grateful for those who lobbied on their behalf.
Standard rules for federal parolees would also restrict Pollard’s travel within the U.S.
Pollard, however, had not forgotten – and used two of his three remaining stamps out of a monthly allowance in order to reply.
“The Department of Justice decided not to oppose his release”, DiGenova said.
The 61-year-old former Navy intelligence analyst was set free in the middle of the night from a medium-security federal prison in Butner, North Carolina, after being paroled from a life sentence that had turned him into a continual source of tension between the US and Israel. A recurring theme was that the sentence was disproportionate.
“While we still believe his sentence was disproportionate, we hope that after having paid his debt to society, he should now be able to rebuild his life together with his wife”, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations said in a statement.
She said she remembered the first time that Jonathan came home with documents to be copied. Rather, he volunteered. The Jerusalem Post recently reported that when Pollard was 16, he attended a summer camp in Israel and asked to become a spy.
USA officials have said Pollard, over a series of months and for a salary, provided intelligence summaries and huge quantities of classified documents on the capabilities and programs of Israel’s enemies. In the end, officials said Pollard served the full amount stipulated by federal law, which requires a parole hearing after 30 years of a life sentence.
In 1998 Bill Clinton agreed to review the case to satisfy the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, during peace talks.
Lawyers Jacques Semmelman and Eliot Lauer said Pollard had been a “model prisoner” and that there was no reason to fear he might commit acts of violence or reveal further U.S. intelligence that by now, in any case, would be so outdated as to be meaningless.
The Justice Department this week indicated it will abide by the conditions of parole.
Patrons said it was churlish to deny Mr. Pollard the opportunity to leave the state now that he’s completed his term.
“Obviously, the one thing at issue is the requirement that he remains in the United States”, Rhodes said. “After three long and hard decades, Jonathan is finally reunited with his family”.
“I tried to serve two countries at the same time”, he said.
As per the terms of his parole, Pollard has to check in regularly with a parole officer for a year and can be returned to prison for poor behavior.
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Assuming Mr. Pollard can not move to Israel, Mr. Pollard plans to live in NY. He is looking, with apparent curiosity, at Esther’s smart phone.
