Pollard

Pollard Petitions US Supreme Court to Release Secret Documents

By Ezra HaLevi (IsraelNationalNews.com)

Imprisoned American Jew Jonathan Pollard has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking to receive secret documents relevant to his case, including a memo written by the US Secretary of Defense.


The petition, Pollard v. The United States of America, is an appeal of a previous decision by a U.S. District Court not to release the documents, and a later refusal of a Federal Appeals Court on the grounds that the court is not authorized to order the documents shown to Pollard.

The documents in question were submitted by the Reagan administration to the judge who originally handed down a life sentence to Pollard in 1987, when he was convicted of passing classified documents to Israel, a U.S. ally. Attorneys representing Pollard say the documents are crucial in being able to request clemency for Pollard, who is serving his 20th year in a federal prison in Butner, North Carolina.

In Israel this week, Pollard activists demonstrated outside the home of newly-appointed Foreign Minister Tzippi Livni in Tel Aviv ahead of her visit to America. Protestors chanted, "Tzippi, don't leave Pollard behind!" and sang protest songs.