Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to press the American government to release Jonathan Pollard from prison, where he is serving a life sentence for passing on to Israel classified information, Arutzsheva is reporting. The plea was delivered in a letter submitted to the Prime Minister by Shas party leader Eli Yishai. “I have received information that [Pollard’s] health is deteriorating,” the rabbi wrote. “We are forbidden to remain deaf. Redeeming captured [Jews] is an important mitzvah.”