Convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard returned to US federal prison over the
weekend after a week in the hospital, sources close to Pollard said
Sunday.
Pollard underwent a battery of tests and medical consultations,
including an MRI brain scan, during his hospitalization.
Test results
were not yet known and it was not clear when they will be
provided.
Pollard’s condition was stable enough for him to be returned to
the Butner Federal Correction Institute to be monitored by the prison clinic
pending test results.
Pollard’s wife, Esther, expressed “bitter
disappointment” at the “lack of any meaningful initiative on the part of Israel
to secure Jonathan’s release, especially at this time.” She issued an appeal to
President Shimon Peres to call US President Barack Obama and plead for him to
commute her husband’s life sentence to the more than 27 years he has already
served.
“From the bottom of my heart, I implore you, President Peres,
both as the recipient of the American medal of freedom and as the former prime
minister who bears a personal responsibility for Jonathan’s dire plight, to save
his life,” she said.
“Because of your close relationship with President
Obama and in light of the massive American support for Jonathan’s release from a
‘grossly disproportionate sentence’ there are no more excuses!” she said. “Time
is running out! Mr. Peres, please, act without delay!” Rabbi Pesach Lerner,
executive vice president emeritus of the National Council of Young Israel, who
leads the American campaign for Pollard, said the holiday season was the right
time to ask Obama for clemency.
“Hanukka is a perfect opportunity for
President Peres to ask for this humane gesture from President Obama,” Lerner
said. “It is a matter of justice. It is a humanitarian issue. Most important of
all, it is a matter of saving a life. What is Peres waiting for?”