May 16, 2010
Israel sends Vanunu back to jail
Peter Hounam
A DECISION by the Israeli Supreme Court to send Mordechai Vanunu, the nuclear whistleblower, back to jail for three months has reignited calls for him to be freed from restrictions that have dogged his life for the past six years.Amnesty International has pledged to make him a prisoner of conscience and his lawyers are considering taking action outside Israel.
Vanunu was released in 2004 after serving an 18-year sentence for treason and espionage after he revealed the secrets of the Dimona atomic weapons plant to The Sunday Times. The Israeli government immediately imposed severe restrictions that prohibited him from leaving the country, going near foreign embassies and even talking to foreigners.
In 2007 he was arrested and accused of giving interviews to foreign media, including the BBC and The Sunday Times. After a long court battle he was found guilty. His lawyers managed to have his sentence reduced to community service. But there was no community service scheme in Arab east Jerusalem, the only part of Israel where he feels safe.
Avigdor Feldman, his lawyer, said the decision on May 11 to impose the original sentence and make him report to prison next Sunday was grotesque.
"After being found guilty in 1988 he was kept in solitary confinement for more than 11 years and I am very worried at the effect this could have on his mental state," Feldman said. "All he has been accused of is talking to strangers, not revealing any new secrets. It is surely time he was allowed to lead a normal life."
Dan Eldad, of the state prosecution service, said there was no other choice. "The court was convinced that Vanunu is in possession of information that, if revealed, would jeopardise the state's security even today," he said.
This contradicts a recent statement from Brigadier-General Uzi Eilam, who ran the Israel Atomic Energy Commission between 1976 and 1986. He said anything Vanunu might yet disclose about Dimona had little relevance: "I've always believed he should be let go."
Vanunu's brother Meir said the threat of going to jail had put Mordechai in low spirits. He was walking around the hills of east Jerusalem, getting a last taste of the outdoors.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/ tol/news/ world/middle_ east/article7127 711.ece
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