World IN BRIEF : ISRAEL : Citizenship Request by U.S. Spy Denied

The government denied a citizenship request by American Jonathan Pollard, who was convicted nine years ago of spying on the United States for Israel, the news agency Itim said. The agency said Interior Minister Ehud Barak wrote to Pollard’s lawyer saying he had concluded that a law allowing him to grant citizenship to a resident of another country is not applicable in this case. In March, President Clinton denied a request for a pardon by Pollard. Israeli and American Jewish groups have been mounting a vigorous campaign to have his sentence commuted.