Officials Deny Report That U.S. Preparing To Release Israeli Spy Jonathan Pollard
Sat Jul 25, 2015 3:50am IST
U.S. officials on Friday denied a Wall Street Journal report that the Obama administration was considering early release for Jonathan Pollard, a former U.S. Navy intelligence officer convicted of spying for Israel.
The Justice Department said Pollard must serve his full 30-year sentence. It stressed that he has long been eligible for consideration for parole in November but insisted that the administration has no say in how that process unfolds.
One U.S. official rejected the notion that Pollard's release would have anything to do with trying to smooth tense relations with Israel over President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fiercely opposes.
The Journal reported that some U.S. officials are pushing for Pollard's release in a matter of weeks, while others expect it could take months, possibly at his parole consideration date in November.
Successive Israeli governments have appealed for Pollard's release, which would be hugely popular in Israel, but U.S. presidents have always resisted. Pollard, 60, was convicted in 1987 of spying for Israel and sentenced to a life term.
MORE...
http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/07/24/usa-spy-pollard-idINKCN0PY2AT20150724
= new reply since forum marked as read
