Mordechai Vanunu Israeli Whistleblower Under House Arrest

[Keith Millea]

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/12/30-1

Published on Wednesday, December 30, 2009 by the Guardian/UK Israeli Nuclear Whistleblower Under House Arrest

Mordechai Vanunu breaches terms of 2004 jail release by meeting 'a number of foreigners', says Israeli police

by Simon Tisdall

Mordechai Vanunu, who served 18 years in prison after he revealed Israel's secret nuclear program, has been placed under house arrest pending criminal charges for allegedly breaching the terms of his 2004 release, which includes a ban on contacts with foreigners. A police spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, said Vanunu was accused of meeting with "a number of foreigners". The spokesman, however, did not specify who the foreigners were or where they came from.

Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu arrives at a Jerusalem court. Photograph: Gali Tibbon/AFP/Getty Images
Vanunu's lawyer, Avigdor Feldman, said his client had been arrested because his romantic attachment to an unnamed Norwegian woman had come to the attention of the authorities.
"Vanunu was arrested [for] a relationship between a man and a woman, with a Norwegian citizen," he told Reuters. "He is not being accused of giving any secrets. She is not interested in nuclear business - she's interested in Mordechai Vanunu [and he] is probably interested in her."
The woman has reportedly been interrogated by police but has not been charged with any offence.
Vanunu has fallen foul of the no-foreigners rule before. In 2007, he was sentenced to six months in jail for talking to non-Israelis.
Vanunu, a former technician at Israel's Dimona nuclear plant, was first jailed in 1986 after he passed on information about Israel's nuclear program to the Sunday Times. The Israeli authorities argue that he may have kept back some information which could still be of use to a hostile foreign power.
His dilemma is compounded by the fact that most Israelis do not approve of his actions and want no contact with him. Vanunu says the feeling is mutual and he would prefer to live abroad, but is banned from doing so.
Israel's supreme court has upheld the restrictions on his freedom of association and movement despite criticism by international human rights groups.
Speaking in court today, Vanunu - who refuses to speak Hebrew publicly in protest at his treatment - said: "This Jewish state has 200 atomic ... hydrogen bombs, atomic weapons, neutron bomb. They are not able to say they have the bomb, they are not able to destroy anyone ... instead they arrest Vanunu."
After talking to the Sunday Times, Vanunu was tracked down in Rome where he was kidnapped by Israeli intelligence agents and brought back to Israel to stand trial.
Israel has never publicly acknowledged its nuclear weapons arsenal.
© 2009 Guardian/UK

[Carsten Wiethoff]

From http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/new...y-1.306833

Nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu was released from prison yesterday after serving a 10-week sentence at the Ayalon Prison for violating the terms of his parole.
Upon his release, Vanunu asked that he be allowed to leave the country, saying that he had been a mere technician at the Dimona nuclear plant and had no knowledge about atomic weapons.

Vanunu said he hoped the prime minister and the head of the Shin Bet security service and the Mossad would solve what he called their problem of his frequent arrests, by allowing him to leave the country.
Vanunu's brother Meir criticized the fact that he was kept separate from other prisoners.
Vanunu served 18 years in prison for revealing secrets about the Dimona nuclear facility to The Sunday Times in 1986. In 2004, he was charged with violating the terms of his parole and sentenced to six months in jail, which was reduced to three months on appeal and later exchanged for community service. Vanunu petitioned the High Court of Justice to allow him to do his service in East Jerusalem out of fear for his life if he worked among Israelis, but authorities in charge of community service sentences objected and therefore he was ordered to serve his sentence, which was further reduced.