After nearly 30 years, freedom nears for American convicted of spying for Israel

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 30 years to the day after his arrest for turning over classified information to Israel, convicted spy Jonathan Pollard is to be released from federal prison.


Pollard is scheduled to be freed Friday from a prison in Butner, North Carolina after being granted parole this summer from a life sentence imposed in 1987.

His lawyers have said that they have secured a job and housing for him in the New York area, without elaborating. The terms of his parole require him to remain in the United States for at least five years.

The release caps one of the most high-profile spy sagas in modern American history, a case that over the years became a diplomatic sticking point between the United States and Israel.