Jailed American-Israeli Naama Issachar was released from prison on Thursday, Russian news outlet Tass reported, citing the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) of Russia. “In connection with presidential decree No. 67, of January 29, 2020, on pardoning Naama Issachar, she was released from the correctional institution of the penitentiary system,” the FSIN press service told TASS. Russian President Vladimir Putin pardoned Issachar hours before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to fly from Washington to Moscow on Wednesday. Netanyahu said: “I thank my friend President Putin for granting a pardon to Naama Issachar.” Issachar’s mother, Yaffa Issachar, said she had been waiting for this moment for almost a year. “It has been a long journey that I would not wish upon anyone,” she said. “Now, all I want is to hug my daughter Naama. I thank Prime Minister Netanyahu from the heart for his diplomatic determination and great efforts…. I also thank Russian President Vladimir Putin for showing mercy.” A senior Israeli source said Issachar’s release “was a gesture by President Putin to the prime minister. There was no deal with Russia.” Issachar’s lawyer Alexei Dobrynin said that she will return to Israel on Thursday on the plane of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who expressed a desire to personally pick her up from Russia, TASS reported. Issachar, who was jailed on drug charges in Russia, will be able to visit Russia in the future, according to her mother, Yaffa, reported Channel 13 on Thursday.
“She’s leaving [jail] as a regular person. She isn’t being deported, meaning that she can return here if she wants,” said Yaffa.
Yaffa added that she never imagined that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would pick up Naama from Russia. “It’s a good ending,” said Yaffa. Yaffa is currently waiting in a hotel in Moscow. “I don’t even know if she’s in jail. It was not an easy night, I slept maybe an hour,” said Yaffa, according to Kan news. She added that she hopes that she’ll see Naama before a planned meeting between Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Issachar, 26, was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison in Russia after 9.5 grams of cannabis were found in her suitcase during a stopover in Moscow en route home to Israel from a trip to India.
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