Jonathan Pollard Loses Consciousness And Is Hospitalized

Jonathan Pollard Loses Consciousness And Is Hospitalized

Jonathan Pollard (60), who just recently began his 30th year of incarceration in the US on charges of spying for Israel, lost consciousness on Friday and was admitted to a hospital outside the prison.

Pollard's wife Esther was informed about his hospitalization; his health has been gradually worsening over his many years behind American bars, although the exact cause of his loss of consciousness is not yet known.

Pollard has been suffering from poor health particularly over the past year, and the conditions in which he is being held are allegedly dire, with his basic needs barely being met. 

Effie Lahav, head of the Committee to Free Jonathan Pollard, said "unfortunately we still don't have additional details. We are worried and pray mostly because there have been incidents in which he was hospitalized in very dangerous conditions."

Late last month the Parole Board of the US Justice Department rejected Pollard's parole, with senior US officials involved in the case writing to US President Barack Obama to complain that the decision was "deeply flawed."

They noted that the length of his sentence was unprecedented compared to others who were held on similar charges of spying for an ally nation, and that the legal justifications for the decision were based on clear mistakes.

Jonathan Pollard has recently been the subject of a high-profile campaign for his release. November 21 marked his 30th year of incarceration in a US jail for passing classified security-related information from America to Israel. He was arrested by FBI agents in 1985 and has been held ever since, including eight years in solitary confinement.

As Pollard entered his 30th year in jail last month, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu promised Pollard's wife Esther