“Pollard’s sentence has been totally disproportionate to any concept of what we have of justice,” Christian American leader tells US president.
By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMANJonathan Pollard 311 (R)(photo credit: Courtesy of Justice for Jonathan Pollard)
Christian American leader Pat Robertson joined the effort to release Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard on Wednesday when he sent a letter to US President Barack Obama asking him to commute his life sentence to the nearly 25 and a half years he has already served.The son of a former US senator from Virginia, Robertson, 81, mounted a campaign to become the Republican nominee for president in 1988. He is a widely recognized religious broadcaster, television evangelist, and successful businessman, who founded and chairs CBN, the Christian Broadcasting Network.“Pollard’s sentence has been totally disproportionate to any concept of what we have of justice,” Robertson wrote in his letter to the US president. “I respectfully urge your administration to do the compassionate thing and commute the sentence of Jonathan Pollard to the time he has already served.”Noting Pollard’s poor health, Robertson warned Obama that “unless something is done he may die in federal custody.”Robertson also wrote that Pollard had become a scapegoat for the crimes committed by Aldrich Ames, a former counter-intelligence officer and analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency who was convicted in 1994 of spying for the Soviet Union and Russia.
