Anat Kamm, who was sentenced last October to four and a half years in prison for transferring top secret military documents to a journalist, has petitioned the High Court of Justice to compel the Knesset to advance currently frozen legislation, which could reduce her sentence, Israel Radio reported Monday. Kamm was convicted of espionage in February 2011 after leaking thousands of classified documents to Haaretz reporter Uri Blau, which she had collected during her service in the IDFs Central Command. Kamm appealed her prison sentence in November, and the Supreme Court was set to hear her appeal in July 2012. In her High Court petition, Kamm argues that Knesset Constitution Law and Justice Committee Chairman MK David Rotem (Yisrael Beitenu) intentionally halted discussions on an amendment to the penal code that could aid her cause, until after her appeal. The legislation, if approved, would differentiate between perpetrators of espionage who operated with the express intent of harming Israels security, and those who transferred classified information without malicious intent. Kam maintains that she had leaked the documents to expose military wrongdoing, not to sabotage Israels security. In 2008, Blau used some of the documents Kamm had leaked in an investigative report, approved by the military censor, on the IDFs apparent disregard for a 2006 High Court order about the targeted killings of Palestinians.
