June 12, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Aaron Troodler

(888) 897-7450

AHEAD OF PERES EVENT, HISTORIC BI-PARTISAN LETTER TO OBAMA IN SUPPORT OF
POLLARD'S RELEASE IS BEING CIRCULATED IN CONGRESS

In an unprecedented display of bi-partisanship, a "Dear Colleague" letter is
being circulated in the U.S. House of Representatives in support of clemency
for Jonathan Pollard. Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY) and Congressman
Christopher Smith (R-NJ), both of whom are veteran members of the House of
Representatives, are soliciting signatures on a letter to President Obama,
which urges the President to commute Pollard's sentence to time served.

Pollard has spent more than 26 years of an unprecedented life sentence
languishing in a federal prison for passing classified information to
Israel, an ally of the United States. The median sentence for this offense
is 2 to 4 years. No one else in the history of the United States has ever
received a life sentence for this offense.

The letter from Congressman Engel, who serves on the Foreign Affairs
Committee and is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on the Western
Hemisphere, and Congressman Smith, who serves as a senior member on the
Foreign Affairs Committee, is chairman of its Africa, Global Health and
Human Rights Subcommittee, and chairs the Commission on Security and
Cooperation in Europe, marks the first time Congressional Democrats and
Republicans have joined forces in an effort to secure Pollard's release. In
November 2010, Congressman Barney Frank spearheaded a letter to President
Obama that was signed by 39 members of Congress, all of whom were Democrats,
which asked the President to commute Jonathan Pollard's sentence.

The "Dear Colleague" letter comes as Israeli President Shimon Peres visits
the United States, where he is scheduled to receive the Presidential Medal
of Freedom from President Obama. President Peres, who has already issued a
formal request to President Obama to release Jonathan Pollard, has pledged
to personally raise the issue with President Obama when the two meet.
70,000 Jews in Israel, the U.S. and around the world have signed a petition
which urges Peres to use his influence and standing in Washington to ensure
that Pollard is immediately released.

The Committee to Free Pollard urges people to contact their Congressional
representatives and request that they sign onto this historic bi-partisan
letter. In addition, the Committee encourages people to contact Congressmen
Engel and Smith and thank them for spearheading this important letter to the
President.

Numerous American leaders have called for a commutation of Pollard's
sentence, including former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger; former
Secretary of State George Shultz; former CIA Director James Woolsey; former
Attorney General Michael Mukasey; former National Security Advisor Robert
McFarlane; former Assistant Secretary of Defense Lawrence Korb; former White
House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum; former Chairman of the Senate Select
Committee on Intelligence Senator Dennis DeConcini; former Senator David
Durenberger, who served as Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence at the time of Pollard's conviction; former Congressman Lee
Hamilton, who served as Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee at the
time of Jonathan Pollard's sentencing; and Senators John McCain and Charles
Schumer.

Pollard has repeatedly expressed his remorse publicly and in private in
letters to many Presidents and others. His health has deteriorated
significantly during his more than two-and-a-half decades in prison.

Despite the fact that Pollard entered into a plea agreement and fully
cooperated with the prosecution in his case, he nonetheless received a life
sentence and a recommendation that he never be paroled, which was in
complete violation of the plea agreement he had reached with the government.

The following is the text of the "Dear Colleague" letter being circulated in
the House of Representatives by Congressmen Engel and Smith, as well as the
proposed text of the Congressional letter to President Obama:

Grant Clemency to Jonathan Pollard

From: The Committee on Foreign Affairs - Minority Staff

Date: 6/11/2012

Dear Colleague:

We invite you to cosign the attached letter to President Obama asking him to
use his power of clemency and commute Jonathan Pollard's prison sentence to
time served. Mr. Pollard broke the law and deserved to be punished for his
crime. However, his health is reportedly declining - he has recently been
hospitalized for kidney and gallstone problems. It is also clear that Mr.
Pollard, who has already been in prison for 27 years, has served a
disproportionately severe sentence. A number of people convicted of spying
for other countries, ranging from the former Soviet Union to South Korea,
have been given lighter sentences than Mr. Pollard.

Mr. Pollard has expressed remorse for his illegal actions, and we believe
the time has come for the President to grant him clemency. If you would like
to cosign this letter or you have any questions, please have your staff
contact Jason Steinbaum with the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere at
x66684 or Mark Milosch with the Helsinki Commission at x51901.

Sincerely,

Eliot L. Engel

Member of Congress

Christopher H. Smith

Member of Congress

Text of Letter follows

The President

The White House

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We write to urge you to exercise your power of clemency and commute Jonathan
Pollard's prison sentence to time served.

What Mr. Pollard did was wrong. He broke the law and deserved to be punished
for his crime. Mr. Pollard has now served more than 25 years in prison, many
of which in solitary confinement, for his actions. There is no doubt that he
has paid a heavy price, and, from the standpoint of either punishment or
deterrence, we believe he has been imprisoned long enough.

Mr. Pollard has expressed remorse for his actions, and his health is
reportedly declining - he has recently been hospitalized for kidney and
gallstone problems. It is also clear that Mr. Pollard has served a
disproportionately severe sentence. A number of people convicted of spying
for other countries, ranging from the former Soviet Union to South Korea,
have been given lighter sentences than Mr. Pollard. We would not expect that
Mr. Pollard would be treated any better than anyone else who has committed
similar acts, but we certainly do not believe he should be treated any
worse.

For all of these reasons we join our voices to those who see clemency as an
act of compassion justified on humanitarian grounds and for purposes of
fairness and equity. We, therefore, again urge you to grant clemency to
Jonathan Pollard so that he can be released for time served.

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Aaron Troodler
Paul Revere Public Relations, LLC
(888) 897-7450 (phone & fax)
www.PaulReverePR.com
http://twitter.com/troodler