Mordechai Vanunu, Israeli Nuclear Whstle Blower, Released From Jail Early Sunday After Being Held 36 Hours In Isolation For Suspected Parole Violations
Vanunu said authorities are looking for 'any little thing' to put him back in jail after serving 18 years for blowing the whistle on Israel's nuclear stockpile.
By Greg Szymanski
11-20-5
Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli nuclear whistle blower, was released from jail early Sunday morning after being held in isolation for 36 hours by Israeli authorities on suspicion of parole violations.
Vanunu, 51, a former nuclear technician, originally spent 18 years in an Israeli prison for telling the world in a London Sunday Times article in 1986 about Israel's nuclear capability, including a stockpile of more than 200 nuclear weapons.
Released in April 2004, he has been strictly prohibited under the terms of his parole to leave Israel, including traveling to the occupied territories. Early Friday afternoon he was detained by Israeli police at the A-Ram border station as he was traveling on a bus near Jerusalem.
"It was the first time I sat alone in prison since being released and it was very difficult as it brought back terrible memories," said Vanunu in a telephone conversation with the Arctic Beacon from his home in Israel. "I think they are looking for any reason to put me back in jail.
"After being held in isolation for 36 hours, when I finally saw the judge, the prosecution wanted to detain me under house arrest for two weeks and give me a stiff fine. But my lawyer successfully argued that where I was detained was not in an unoccupied territory and that the terms of my parole are vague.
"He also told the judge authorities needed to provide me with a list of checkpoints that are off limits, which they haven't done. I was just trying to travel to a small village and felt I shouldn't have been detained."
After his lawyer successfully argued the legal points, Vanunu was released without charges being filled or a fine being levied. Authorities also did not give any specifics regarding his detention, merely saying Vanunu was required to notify authorities anytime he planned on leaving Jerusalem.
Under the terms of parole, he has also been prohibited from talking to the press, something he has openly disregard, adding in past public statements he was "not going to allow the Israeli authorities to stop his freedom of speech."
"They never mentioned anything this time about talking to the foreign press, but like I said I think they are looking for anything little thing to put me back in jail," said Vanunu, who spent 11 of his 18 year prison term in solitary confinement for going public about Israel's nuclear program.
Vanunu was released from an Israeli prison near Tel Aviv in 2004 for divulging what authorities claimed was classified information regarding Israel's nuclear weapons program and its nuclear reactor in Dimona, where he worked for nine years as a scientist.
The Sunday Times of London published a full account of Vanunu's story, calling the attention to the world in 1986 that Israel has already constructed 200 nuclear atomic bombs. He verified his claim with photographs of the Dimona site, verified by experts who eventually confirmed that Israel had nuclear weapons.
Vanunu was arrested in Rome at the time the article was being published to Italy by a combination Mossad and CIA undercover kidnapping. Once he returned, Vanunu claimed he was not given a fair trial and quickly sentenced to a maximum term for treason as well as being termed a foreign spy.
He also appeared last Monday, four days before his arrest at the checkpoint, in his only U.S. radio interview on Greg Szymanski's "Investigative Journal" on the Republic Broadcasting Network where he said Israel's nuclear arsenal now had at least doubled to 400 nuclear weapons. His entire interview can be heard at
"If President Bush wants to find nuclear weapons in the Middle East, all he has to do is come to Israel. I am not going to let Israel keep me from exercising my freedom of speech," said Vanunu during the radio interview. "I am waiting for my January hearing where the Israeli judge will determine if I go back to jail for talking to the foreign press.
"But I will not stop talking as what else can they do to me after spending 18 years in jail, 11 years in solitary confinement, for doing nothing wrong. All I ever wanted to do was alert the world to the terrible nuclear threat Israel presented to the whole Middle East and the world."
The Friday arrest hasn't been the first time Vanunu has been detained by Israeli authorities since being released from prison. Last November 11, Israeli police entered St. George's Cathedral, arresting Vanunu. He was questioned about his interviews with foreign press, which he conducted in open defiance of the restrictions, believing they were in violation of his freedom of speech.
Vanunu was also detained last Christmas Eve, as he attempted to enter the off-limits West Bank city of Bethlehem for worship at the Church of the Nativity. He was released several hours later being given five days of house arrest.
Vanunu's case was then reviewed by the Israeli court last April where the charges were dropped but then immediately prosecutors filed new charges under a different law prohibiting contact with the media concerning matters of national security.
Prior to his Friday arrest, Vanunu was scheduled to appear for a January hearing where he faces a possible six months in prison if convicted on other alleged parole violations, charges specifically concerning his alleged disregard for the Israeli order not to talk to the foreign press.
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