Soldier who leaked army secrets freed after two years
Amid protests, Anat Kamm leaves prison 26 months after conviction for passing military documents to reporter
Anat Kamm, a former IDF soldier who was convicted of leaking classified military documents to a journalist, was released from prison Sunday after being jailed since November 2011.
Earlier this month the Parole Board of Prison Services accepted a request to shorten her 3.5-year sentence. In its ruling, the parole board stated that Kamm would serve a total of two and one-third years and would be granted an early release for good behavior.
As she was leaving Neve Tirtza women’s prison in Ramle Sunday morning, Kamm was greeted by a crowd of activists protesting her release, calling her “a traitor” and urging that she be imprisoned for life, Walla News reported.
Kamm told reporters that she “feels wonderful” and was looking forward to going home.
In 2006, while serving as an assistant in the office of Maj. Gen. Yair Naveh — then commander of Israel’s Central Command — Kamm made copied of thousands of documents from his office.
After she was discharged from the army, she passed the information, including details about the military’s program of targeted assassinations, to Haaretz reporter Uri Blau.
In 2008, Blau published details from the documents in a series of articles that led investigators to Kamm’s door, and in 2010 she was arrested and charged with espionage.
In February 2011, Kamm signed a plea bargain that stipulated that she would not be charged with harming national security if she pleaded guilty to leaking state secrets.
In October 2011, she was sentenced to four and a half years in prison and 18 months’ probation. Following an appeal, Kamm’s sentence was later shortened to three and a half years.
Since her conviction, Kamm has expressed regret for her actions.
Kamm’s lawyer Ilan Bombach said on Sunday that she was pursuing legal action against Blau and Haaretz for failing to conceal their source’s identity from investigators.
“It’s a legal struggle over them exposing her as their source,” he told Channel 10 television.
AFP contributed to this report
