Vanunu has been re-arrested by Israel!!
Mordechai Vanunu heroically risked his life and freedom to reveal Israel's illegal atomic weapon's program in '86 to the world. He was subsequently kidnapped in Europe by Israel's secret police, tried for treason, convicted and imprisoned for 18 years , including 11 years in solitary. He was finally released in April of this year but under severe restrictions which confined him to Israel, did not permit any contact with media and restricted that with foreigners.
Now, suddenly, he has been re-arrested. 30 to 50 men with machine guns stormed the church where he was living in Jerusalem and seized him.
All this just after Arafat's suspicious death- what strange timing.
Go to Vanunu's support site and
nonviolence.org for further information and to help secure Vanunu's freedom. The man risked so much for ours.
News UPDATE!
Outcry as Vanunu put under house arrest / Duncan Campbell
Israel faced international protest last week after the nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu was rearrested seven months after his release from an 18-year sentence.
Thirty armed Israeli soldiers burst into the courtyard of St George's Cathedral, Jerusalem, last Thursday morning and took the 50-year-old from the hostel where he had been given sanctuary since leaving prison. He was taken before a magistrate and ordered to be kept under house arrest at the hostel for seven days.
"This is a disgrace to Israeli democracy," Mr Vanunu shouted to journalists as he was led into court. "They want to punish me again; they cannot punish me twice. I suffered 18 years in prison, I have the right to be free."
Last week, in an interview with the Guardian in Jerusalem, Mr Vanunu said he had no secrets to disclose and was talking to foreigners, in defiance of government restrictions, so that the authorities would see he had nothing to hide. He is also forbidden from leaving the country for at least a further five months.
"I don't know what is the best way to overcome this restriction," he said during an interview in the churchyard. "Is it by silence or is it by speaking? I decided it was by speaking. If I was silent they might keep me longer. If I speak, they can see I have no more secrets, all I am saying is expressing my views, and also I am teaching them that they cannot silence anyone . . . If they take away your right to speak, you are not a human being any more."
Witnesses said soldiers wielding machine guns took papers and a computer from the small room where Mr Vanunu has lived since being freed from Ashkelon prison in April. "[Vanunu] is suspected of passing classified information to unauthorised parties," said a police spokesman. "He is also suspected of violating the terms of his release."
A Vanunu defence campaign spokesman said: "The attempt to silence Mordechai Vanunu on this of all days is an attempt to bury Israel's secret nuclear arsenal together with Yasser Arafat."
The Guardian Weekly 2004-11-19, page 5
Editorial / Mordechai Vanunu / Back behind bars
On April 21 this year Mordechai Vanunu was released from jail after serving an 18-year sentence for treason, two-thirds of it in solitary confinement. Just 203 days later, he was back behind bars. Last week, while the world's attention was focused on the death of Yasser Arafat and its ramifications, police entered the church in Jerusalem where the man who blew the whistle on Israel's nuclear weapons programme has lived since April, and arrested Mr Vanunu for violating the terms of his release.
Given the stifling nature of those terms - stripped of his passport, needing official permission to have contact with foreigners, forbidden from holding media interviews, and banned from discussing Israel's nuclear secrets- it will never be difficult for Israel's government to find grounds for re-arresting him. Last week's move may have been a response to Mr Vanunu's determination not to be bound, recently conducting a series of interviews.
Mr Vanunu remains a hate figure for many Israelis in the same way that America's cold warriors reviled the alleged Soviet spy Alger Hiss as a traitor and symbol of the threats their country faced in the 50s and 60s. Like Hiss, it seems that Mr Vanunu will be pursued regardless of the price that he has paid. Unlike Hiss, there is depressingly little in the way of public unease about Mr Vanunu's treatment. It seems obvious that his knowledge of Israel's nuclear programme, gained during his work as a technician, is long since obsolete. By keeping him imprisoned, Israel merely makes itself appear cruel and vindictive. Since so many Israelis see him as a traitor, the answer is simple: let him leave the country if he wishes.
The Guardian Weekly 2004-11-19, page 13
Now, suddenly, he has been re-arrested. 30 to 50 men with machine guns stormed the church where he was living in Jerusalem and seized him.
All this just after Arafat's suspicious death- what strange timing.
Go to Vanunu's support site and
nonviolence.org for further information and to help secure Vanunu's freedom. The man risked so much for ours.
News UPDATE!
Outcry as Vanunu put under house arrest / Duncan Campbell
Israel faced international protest last week after the nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu was rearrested seven months after his release from an 18-year sentence.
Thirty armed Israeli soldiers burst into the courtyard of St George's Cathedral, Jerusalem, last Thursday morning and took the 50-year-old from the hostel where he had been given sanctuary since leaving prison. He was taken before a magistrate and ordered to be kept under house arrest at the hostel for seven days.
"This is a disgrace to Israeli democracy," Mr Vanunu shouted to journalists as he was led into court. "They want to punish me again; they cannot punish me twice. I suffered 18 years in prison, I have the right to be free."
Last week, in an interview with the Guardian in Jerusalem, Mr Vanunu said he had no secrets to disclose and was talking to foreigners, in defiance of government restrictions, so that the authorities would see he had nothing to hide. He is also forbidden from leaving the country for at least a further five months.
"I don't know what is the best way to overcome this restriction," he said during an interview in the churchyard. "Is it by silence or is it by speaking? I decided it was by speaking. If I was silent they might keep me longer. If I speak, they can see I have no more secrets, all I am saying is expressing my views, and also I am teaching them that they cannot silence anyone . . . If they take away your right to speak, you are not a human being any more."
Witnesses said soldiers wielding machine guns took papers and a computer from the small room where Mr Vanunu has lived since being freed from Ashkelon prison in April. "[Vanunu] is suspected of passing classified information to unauthorised parties," said a police spokesman. "He is also suspected of violating the terms of his release."
A Vanunu defence campaign spokesman said: "The attempt to silence Mordechai Vanunu on this of all days is an attempt to bury Israel's secret nuclear arsenal together with Yasser Arafat."
The Guardian Weekly 2004-11-19, page 5
Editorial / Mordechai Vanunu / Back behind bars
On April 21 this year Mordechai Vanunu was released from jail after serving an 18-year sentence for treason, two-thirds of it in solitary confinement. Just 203 days later, he was back behind bars. Last week, while the world's attention was focused on the death of Yasser Arafat and its ramifications, police entered the church in Jerusalem where the man who blew the whistle on Israel's nuclear weapons programme has lived since April, and arrested Mr Vanunu for violating the terms of his release.
Given the stifling nature of those terms - stripped of his passport, needing official permission to have contact with foreigners, forbidden from holding media interviews, and banned from discussing Israel's nuclear secrets- it will never be difficult for Israel's government to find grounds for re-arresting him. Last week's move may have been a response to Mr Vanunu's determination not to be bound, recently conducting a series of interviews.
Mr Vanunu remains a hate figure for many Israelis in the same way that America's cold warriors reviled the alleged Soviet spy Alger Hiss as a traitor and symbol of the threats their country faced in the 50s and 60s. Like Hiss, it seems that Mr Vanunu will be pursued regardless of the price that he has paid. Unlike Hiss, there is depressingly little in the way of public unease about Mr Vanunu's treatment. It seems obvious that his knowledge of Israel's nuclear programme, gained during his work as a technician, is long since obsolete. By keeping him imprisoned, Israel merely makes itself appear cruel and vindictive. Since so many Israelis see him as a traitor, the answer is simple: let him leave the country if he wishes.
The Guardian Weekly 2004-11-19, page 13
posted by Dawn One at 4:46 pm
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