Jonathan Pollard was released from prison Friday after 30 years behind bars for spying for Israel, and his lawyers immediately went to court to challenge tough parole conditions seemingly created to ensure he doesn’t spill any us military secrets he might have left. In 1987, the USA sentenced him to life in prison for giving United States secrets to Israel.
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There is speculation that the July announcement of Pollard’s release, just days after the West and Iran struck a nuclear deal, was meant as a conciliatory gesture towards Israel, which vehemently opposes the accord.
Those working on Pollard’s behalf contest the parole arrangement, pointing out that there is nearly zero risk the former spy will pass on additional classified information.
Both the Justice Department and Pollard’s lawyers have so far declined to discuss his parole conditions, but one longtime supporter, Rabbi Pesach Lerner of NY, told a radio interviewer this month that Pollard would have to abide by a curfew and wear a Global Positioning System unit to track his movements. He has said he wants to move to Israel to be reunited with his second wife.
Ed Ross, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, said that “as of this morning, Jonathan Pollard is no longer in BOP custody”.
“Pollard’s sentence of life imprisonment in 1985 was then – and remains today – unprecedented, excessive, grossly disproportionate and unfair”.
“Over the years, we’ve felt Pollard’s pain and felt responsible and obliged to bring about his release”.
Some of the other restrictions for Pollard’s release, which include an anklet for 24-hour Global Positioning System tracking and the monitoring of his and any future employer’s computers, are being appealed by Pollard’s lawyers, who say that these restrictions are illegal and that no employer would agree to have their computers watched in this way, according to Israel’s Ynet news website.
Pollard’s lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, agreed.
There will be little fanfare of the event, and the Free Pollard organization, which has lobbied for his release for years, announced that no public events or rallies will take place to mark his release. Pollard’s attorneys point to their client’s failing health as another reason to waive his Global Positioning System monitoring requirement. A recurring theme was that the sentence was disproportionate.
The first time Obama visited Israel as president, in 2013, more than 100,000 Israelis signed a petition asking that Pollard be freed. That, he told investigators, is what influenced him to spy for Israel.
Successive Israeli prime ministers have raised the issue in their meetings with USA presidents.
“The people of Israel welcome the release of Jonathan Pollard”. “The president has no plans to alter the forms of his parole”. He referred questions to the Justice Department. “The Israeli prime served his full term”.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt that the crime merited a life sentence, given the amount of damage that Mr. Pollard did to the United States government”, said Joseph diGenova, who prosecuted the case as USA attorney in Washington, D.C. “I would have been perfectly pleased if he had spent the rest of his life in jail”.
The Parole Commission may end his parole at any time, but is not obliged to reconsider its terms for two years.
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Under the terms of his parole, Pollard, a former US Navy analyst, must remain in the United States for five years.
