Special to WorldTribune.com

Jonathan Pollard will be set free from a U.S. prison next week, but President Barack Obama will not waive a condition of his release that prohibits Pollard from leaving the U.S. for five years.

Pollard, who is the only American to ever be sentenced to life in prison for passing classified information to an ally of the U.S. (Israel), is expected to be released on Nov. 20 after serving 30 years.

Pollard, who was granted Israeli citizenship in 1995, has said he would prefer to join his wife Esther in Israel, according to his attorney, Eliot Lauer.

Pollard is obligated to remain in the United States and will be monitored for five years after his release. Pollard’s supporters said they had hoped Obama would waive that obligation.

Obama’s deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said that “President Obama has not intervened in the judicial process here in the United States, and that’s been his consistent approach… With respect to the case of Jonathan Pollard, he’s made clear that he wants there to be fair treatment under the law, as there should be with any individual.”

  Ben Rhodes, Jonathan Pollard to be released from prison but may not travel to Israel, spying conviction, WorldTribune.com