Jonathan Pollard collapses in jail cell, condition unknown

Convicted Israeli spy taken to a local hospital

By Ilan Ben Zion 1 December 2012, 10:33 pm

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Ilan Ben Zion is an AFP reporter and a former news editor at The Times of Israel.

Jonathan Pollard's US Navy head shot (photo credit: United States Navy)

Convicted spy Jonathan Pollard was hospitalized on Saturday after collapsing in his jail cell. His condition was unknown.

Jonathan Pollard speaks during an interview at the Federal Correction Institution in Butner, N.C, in May 1998. (photo credit: AP/ Karl DeBlaker, File)

Pollard, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1987 for spying on the United States for Israel, had suffered severe pains in recent weeks, but it was not clear whether there was a connection between the pains and Saturday’s incident. He had been hospitalized several times recently.

In April, the Israeli spy was hospitalized for a week and a half with a life-threatening condition before being returned to his cell in North Carolina’s Butner Federal Correctional Complex.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in July in response to President Shimon Peres’s request of clemency for Pollard that he was handed a life sentence and that was not likely to change.