Israel President asks Putin to pardon US-Israeli jailed on drug charges

Israel asked Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday to pardon a US-Israeli woman given a seven and a half year jail sentence for drugs found in her luggage as she transited through a Moscow airport, reports Reuters.

Naama Issachar’s case has opened up an unusually public rift between Israel and Russia. Her family says she is being punished disproportionately to pressure Israel into freeing a Russian held in Israel on a US extradition request.

Issachar was arrested in April during a layover in flights from India to Israel. Russian police found 9 grams of cannabis in her luggage, her family says. On Friday, a Russian court sentenced her to 7-1/2 years in jail for drug smuggling.

In a letter to Putin, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said Issachar, 25, had “made a grave mistake and has admitted her crime”, and asked the Russian leader for his “personal intervention to grant her an extraordinary pardon”.

The letter, published on Rivlin’s Twitter account, noted recent Russian help in locating the remains of an Israeli soldier killed by Syrian forces in a 1982 battle.

Today, I appealed to President Putin of Russia, as a friend of the Jewish People and of the State of Israel, regarding Naama Issachar. Although Naama has made a grave mistake and admitted it, such a long sentence could have a terrible impact on her life. @KremlinRussia_E pic.twitter.com/9NxbPC6RrP

— Reuven Rivlin (@PresidentRuvi) October 13, 2019

“The Jewish People and State of Israel are grateful for your sensitivity to human life,” Rivlin wrote to Putin.

Putin would be informed about the letter and consider the request once the Kremlin receives it via diplomatic channels, spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters.

Issachar’s family accuses Russia of punishing her after failing to swap her for Alexei Burkov, a Russian national detained by Israel during a 2015 visit. Israel says he is wanted by the United States for suspected cyber offences.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appeared to rule out any such exchange, saying Israel’s Supreme Court had approved Burkov’s extradition to the United States.

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