by JV Staff
Hat tip: imra
Jonathan Pollard - denied parole on a false charge
Letter to Obama reveals false charge against Pollard used to deny parole
As Jonathan Pollard enters his 30th year
of a life sentence this week, breaking news that the U.S.
administration has prevented the release of Jonathan Pollard on parole
prompted eight former senior U.S. officials to make public a copy of
their letter to President Obama which strongly protests “the unjust
denial of parole to Jonathan Pollard,” and reveals that the U.S.
Government used a false charge against Pollard to deny him parole.
The letter was signed exclusively by
those officials who have first-hand knowledge of the case and who are
fully familiar with the classified file. They include:
Amb. R. James Woolsey - Former Director of the CIA
Senator Dennis DeConcini - Former Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee
Senator David F. Durenburger - Former Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee
Robert C. MacFarlane - Former U.S. National Security Advisor
Lawrence J. Korb - Former Assistant U.S. Secretary of Defense
Prof. Angelo Codevilla - Former Senate Intelligence Committee Staff
Congressman Lee Hamilton - Department of
Homeland Security Advisor to President Obama and Former Chair of the
Select Committee on Intelligence
Bernard W. Nussbaum - Former White House Counsel
The letter strongly criticizes the
parole process as “deeply flawed” and declares that “[t]he Parole
Commission Decision document mischaracterizes Mr. Pollard’s actions and
makes a patently false claim upon which it bases its denial of parole.”
The letter explains that the “patently
false claim” is the U.S. government’s allegation that “Mr. Pollard’s
espionage was the greatest compromise of US security to that date.” This
claim, say the officials, “is false and is not supported by any
evidence in the public record or the classified file.” They note that
nevertheless this “fiction” was the reason given by the Parole
Commission for denying parole.
The officials further note that at
hearing, the U.S. government relied heavily on the 28-year-old
discredited Weinberger document, which Pollard’s security-cleared
attorneys were denied access to, and which the Parole Commission was not
cleared to review. The Commission was aware, they write, that in 2002,
Weinberger himself had discounted the document as politically motivated.
They also point out that the Commission
ignored a wealth of documentary evidence which mitigated in favor of
Pollard’s release; and that the Commission also ignored all of the
recommendations by top level officials with first-hand knowledge of the
case, which call for his unconditional release (parole is conditional).
They express dismay at the fact that the
Commission also ignored all compassionate grounds for Pollard’s
release, and ignored Pollard’s record as a model prisoner for 3 decades.
The parole process now joins the long
list of failed legal processes that have denied justice to Jonathan
Pollard for nearly 3 decades. The officials note that it is clearly for
cases like this that the U.S. Constitution grants the president
virtually unlimited powers of clemency.
The letter to Obama concludes with a
severe admonition and calls for the immediate commutation of Pollard’s
sentence to time served:
“Denying a man his freedom based on a
claim of damage that is patently false while ignoring exculpatory
documentary evidence and hiding behind a veil of secret evidence is
neither fair nor just nor is it the American way...We urge you to act
expeditiously to commute Mr. Pollard’s life sentence to the 29 years
which he has already served.”
JV Staff
Source: http://jewishvoiceny.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9316:jonathan-pollard-denied-parole-on-false-charges-us-officials-slam-decision&catid=110:national&Itemid=293
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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