The release from prison of Russian dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former oil tycoon and political rival to Russian President Vladimir Putin, reduces the list of Jewish prisoners unjustly held abroad and in the United States from five to four prominent cases.  Khodorkovsky is Jewish, as reported by the JTA, and even though his unjust imprisonment was not related to his Jewishness, his release was sought for years by Jewish groups.

With justice having finally been done in the Khorokovsky case, attention should be focused on the plight of four other Jews who are being unjustly. 

Robert Levinson, 71, a former FBI agent has been held by the Iranians since March 9, 2007 when he went missing while reportedly on a “rogue” mission for the CIA on Iran’s Kish Island. Levinson’s plight has been detailed for the first time since he went missing by the Associated Press, which confirms he was on a spy mission that went wrong. The CIA handlers of the mission were reprimanded for proceeding without proper authorization, and much of the world’s media, including the New York Times withheld publishing details of the story so as not to endanger Levinson’s life. 

Now that the story has been broken, Levinson’s family has appealed to the world’s media to push for his immediate release on humanitarian grounds.  The ongoing negotiations between the United States and Iran provide an opportunity for the issue to be raised at the highest levels. Both the State Department and White House have indicated that Levinson’s case has been discussed with Iranian officials.  Those efforts must be re-doubled to assure his early release.  Levinson is now the longest-held American hostage in U.S. history.  Thus far, the Iranian regime has refused to discuss Levinson’s case even as his health deteriorates and his sentence drags on.

Alan Gross, another contractor, is serving a 15-year sentence in Cuba, allegedly for work he was doing for the United States Agency for International Development. Gross reportedly had worked to develop an Internet network among Cuba’s small Jewish population while he was there on behalf of USAID.  He was accused of supplying the Cuban Jews with banned or restricted electronic equipment under a federally funded program that seeks to undermine the regime.  Gross has been held in a dank Cuban  prison ever since.  The Cuban regime under brothers Fidel and Raoul Castro has never been regarded as anti-Semitic, so the Gross case falls into the category of the lingering Cold War hostility between Washington and Havana.

Warren Weinstein, 72, has been held by his Al Qaeda abductors in Pakistan for more than two years.  In a just-released video, Weinstein pleads with the Obama administration to help secure his freedom.  Weinstein made the impassioned plea in the video, which was released by his Al Qaeda captors.  He appeared distraught and dejected in the tape and noted that he was “not in good health.”  Weinstein, an American development consultant, was abducted from his home in Lahore, Pakistan by a group of armed men who invaded his home.  In the video, Weinstein said he had come to Pakistan to help the U.S. government in its testy relations with Pakistan, and now feels that he has “been totally abandoned and forgotten” by his own government.  

Finally, there is the persistent case of the life sentence being served by Jonathan Jay Pollard, the former U.S. Naval Intelligence analyst who was part of a “rogue” operation to steal and share classified and top secret information with the State of Israel. After Pollard was arrested, he admitted that he had broken the law and deserved to be punished. He had been promised leniency if he cooperated with federal prosecutors, but after a 46-page last-minute memo was sent to the federal court by then Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, who was known to be anti-Israel, Pollard received a life sentence.  

Such former Jewish prisoners as Natan Sharansky, the most prominent of the Soviet Jewish Prisoners of Conscience and Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier held captive by Hamas for several years, have called for Pollard’s release.  A broad spectrum of supporters in this nation, ranging from former Rep. Barney Frank on the left to major conservative figures have called for his release or for the commutation of Pollard’s sentence to time served. 

JTA reported last week that information leaked by Edward Snowden proved that the United States had set up elaborate eaves-drooping equipment to spy on top Israeli officials could help Pollard’s case.  Perhaps the Snowden revelations will provide the opportunity for President Barack Obama to either pardon Pollard or commute his sentence to time served.

Should Jewish groups and newspapers support prisoners solely because they are Jewish? Of course not. You will not find Jewish newspapers or groups supporting the release of Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, for example. But when Jews are being held unjustly, we must speak out forcefully on their behalf.  We have only to recall the tragic fate of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was captured and beheaded by Al Qaeda in Pakistan.  

We should heed Deuteronomy’s words: “Justice, justice shall we pursue,” and redoubled our efforts to persuade those holding Levinson, Gross, Weinstein and yes, Pollard to “Let our People Go!”