Lindenstrauss: Pollard Did Not Receive Fair, Proper Trial

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pollardA new report issued by Israeli State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss says the issue of Jonathan Pollard was not neglected by consecutive Israeli governments but suggests the convicted spy had likely been denied due legal process during his trial in the United States. The report refutes complaints by Pollard’s family and friends, who have accused the government of not doing enough to secure Pollard’s release.

While most of the report issued by Lindenstrauss remains classified, an abstract of the report was released for publication this afternoon.

Pollard was convicted in a US court of spying for Israel and has been in jail since November 1985. An American citizen, Pollard received Israeli citizenship in 1995. From May 1998 he was acknowledged as an agent working for Israel.

During his work on the matter, Lindenstrauss met with Pollard’s attorneys and with former ministers, prime ministers and other government officials who worked to release Pollard. He also met with Pollard’s father, Prof. Morris Pollard.

The state comptroller also ordered a professional legal opinion from, among others, Prof. Kenneth Mann, a well-known expert in US and criminal law. Based on Mann’s opinion, Lindenstrauss suggests that Pollard apparently did not enjoy his constitutional right for due legal process. He cited the US Constitution’s Fifth Amendment, which articulates the basic rights of a person suspected of a crime.

Lindenstrauss found that consecutive US administrations refused to budge when it came to Pollard, with the main reason cited as the US intelligence community’s strong opposition to his release, claiming it would be detrimental to the US’s security interests.

The report by Lindenstrauss covers the administrations of prime ministers Binyamin Netanyahu (during his first term), Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert. He said all four discussed Pollard in meetings with US presidents, but said these talks should have been documented. Lindenstrauss offered to establish a protocol where such discussions, in the future, will be recorded.

“Such documents will provide an aggregate of insights on what has already been done to secure his release, and they can be used to draft future plans,” Lindenstrauss states. According to the state comptroller, Israel also contacted Congressmen and members of the US justice system, but their efforts were in vain.

Pollard’s case is “closed, but not resolved” he said. “The prime minister and his government must do all in their power to release Pollard… the State of Israel owes Pollard the mitzvah of releasing captives and it’s better late than never, in light of his frail health,” he concluded.

{JPost/Yair Alpert-Matzav.com Israel}


2 COMMENTS

  1. Keep being Mispallel for Yehonasan Ben Malka!

    Also for: Yoel Zev Ben Miral Risa Chava
    Yosef Ben Ita Rivka
    Yaakov Yosef Ben Raizel
    (The three Bachurim jailed in Japan)

  2. Pollards’ Preliminary Response to the Lindenstrauss Report

    Statement of Esther Pollard
    J4JPnews Update – September 3, 2009

    The Lindenstrauss report is a sham which uses the due process issue as a smoke screen to obscure the criminal negligence of successive governments of Israel towards Jonathan Pollard.

    It is a well known fact that Jonathan did not receive due process. All of the supporting legal documents are on our website, which where Kenneth Mann accessed them. Mann and Lindenstrauss are aware that Jonathan has exhausted all legal remedies in America, yet they disingenuously recommend that Jonathan have a retrial in the US.

    The American government has successfully blocked Jonathan from ever bringing his case back to court in the US, so announcing that he has been deprived of due process is a nonstarter. Moreover, this issue has no place in a report that purports to be investigating efforts by the government of Israel to bring about Jonathan’s release.

    Lindenstrauss and his ilk are simply one more branch of the Israeli government doing a whitewash of the government’s failure to take the most minimal steps to bring Jonathan home. The report (what little of it has been made public) shifts responsibility for Jonathan (an Israeli agent) away from the Government of Israel and on to Jonathan himself, as a private American citizen. It is an ugly piece of propaganda.

    From the time that he took office, Prime Minister Netanyahu has made sure that Jonathan Pollard is completely cut off from all Government contact and support. Totally orphaned. Bibi and Barak (with Peres’ assistance) appear to have teamed up to bury Jonathan alive, again. The Lindenstrauss report is a useful device towards this end. It is cleverly crafted to convince the public that nothing can be done to bring Jonathan Pollard home. It goes so far as to advise that we, the Pollard family, seek help from private agencies in the US, not Israel. Is this the way to treat an agent in peril, after 25 years in prison?!!

    It should be noted, that neither Lindenstrauss nor his staff ever met with Eliot Lauer and Jacques Semmelman, Jonathan’s American attorneys, though the report gives the impression that they did.

    See Also:

    Lawyer Lambasts Pollard Report – Jerusalem Post
    http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1251804479864&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

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