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Two weeks after Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli nuclear whistle blower, was jailed
for 36 hours on alleged parole violations he tells why he feels 'unfairly targeted'
as well as telling why his freedom of speech and association rights are being
disregarded. Even though he already spent 18 years in jail, it looks like authorities
are looking 'for any little thing' to put him behind bars.
Two weeks after Mordechai Vanunu was jailed for 36 hours, he claims Israeli
authorities are still harassing him for talking with the foreign press and wanting
to leave Israel.
He claims Mossad, CIA and MI6 intelligence agents are “watching him closely”
and “looking for any little thing” to put him back behind bars.
He added agents are searching with "a fine tooth comb" for parole
violations, prohibiting him from talking to journalists or leaving Israel in
what he calls unfair restrictions on his free speech and association rights.
Vanunu, 51, talked with the Arctic Beacon the day after his release two weeks
ago from a cold and dank Israeli jail, saying the experience was a terrible
reminder of his 18 year jail term, 11 years in solitary confinement, for telling
the world about Israel’s secret nuclear stockpile, estimated at more than
200 weapons in 1986.
This week he released a longer statement, reflecting on his situation and claiming
he still feels abandoned by worldwide human right's groups, who have been pressured
by Israel and the U.S. to ignore his case.
“I had served the full extent of the harsh 18 year sentence after being
unfairly convicted for crimes I didn’t commit,” said Vanunu in a
telephone conversation from Israel, technically also violating his parole even
though he has openly talked to the press repeatedly since day one of his release
on charges of treason and spying.
Vanunu was released from an Israeli prison near Tel Aviv in 2004 for divulging
what au information regarding Israel’s nuclear weapons program and its
nuclear reactor in Dimona, where he worked for nine years as a technician/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 as the article was being published by a combination
Mossad and CIA undercover kidnapping. Once back in Israel,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.
Four days prior to his recent detention near a checkpoint near Jerusalem while
traveling on a bus, Vanunu made a rare American radio appearance on Greg Szymanski’s
Investigative Journal on the Republic Broadcast Network at www.rbnlive.com where
a audio clip of the one hour interview is archived.
On that show was openly critical of Israel’s stringent parole requirements,
adding Israel’s nuclear stockpile has grown to more than 400 weapons.
“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.”
After Vanunu reflected on his recent trouble with authorities, he said he felt
the United States and Britain were collaborating with the Israeli’s to
keep him “locked within Israel’s borders” unable to communicate
with the world. This week he made his reflections on the arrest and his future
known to the Arctic Beacon in this following statement, a statement he wanted
Americans to hear:
“Two weeks ago again the Israel authorities use their power to arrest
me, but this time they put me back in prison for 2 days, causing me back to
remember all the cruelty and hard life of 18 years in isolation.
“The reason this time was because I came very close to the checkpoint
near the wall in Aram, a small Palestinian neighborhood in east Jerusalem where
they have not yet decided where the apartheid wall is going to continue.
“I took a bus from the bus station in east Jerusalem and traveled to
the Aram village without being checked, but when the bus returned to Jerusalem,
they inspected it at the Aram check point.
“At the check point, they took my ID card and the soldiers received
orders to arrest me. They confiscated my camera and my mobile, and took me to
the nearest police station, where I waited for the special police unit to come
from Tel Aviv and take me to there to be questioned.
“Meanwhile, the police themselves invited the Israel media TV to come
and let them take as many photos as they wanted and to report my arrest in their
main news, as a man who is going to the occupied territories where the "enemies,"
"fighting" them. They did this because they want the Israeli public
to regard me as being equal to terrorist.
“I said to the media "they arrested me when I went to see the Aram
check point, to see the Apartheid wall, the Palestinians ghettos."
“In Tel Aviv they questioned me about why I was "Interring"
to the Palestine occupied territories. They wanted to know what I was doing
there and why I was not following the general Army's orders. I said Aram is
still part of Palestine east Jerusalem, I am not interested to see the occupied
territories, I just want to see the apartheid wall, to see this village, and
it is not yet clear where the borders of Jerusalem are. They wanted to know
with whom I was traveling, their names, why I was with foreigners, and he wanted
to see my camera photos.
“The police decided to arrest me because they wanted to release me under
court orders. However, there is no court on the Jewish Sabbath day, so they
had to wait until Saturday night. They imprisoned me in Tel Aviv, in a cell
without any thing but a mattress and a blanket.
“Saturday morning my lawyer Feldman and Sfard, came to see me, to hear
what happened, and to represent me in court. In the evening the police took
me back to the court, and the woman judge heard my case at 20:30. Feldman did
not agree to the police terms of my release. They wanted 2 of week's house arrest,
and 50.000 shekels. Feldman convinced the judge and even the police that this
arrest was a big mistake because I did not violate the terms of my release,
since it is not yet clear where Israel wants to put its apartheid wall. But,
before the judge made her decision the police capitulated and agreed for immediate
release without any condition, just my signature.
“This was a small victory for Feldman in defending me, and my friend
Gideon took me back to Jerusalem, St George, where we had a glass of Beer.
“But the police and the Israeli spies couldn't go without something.
They demanded that I give them my Camera and my mobile so they could check them.
Now I don't have my mobile and no phone connection until receiving them back.
“So that was another incident of harassment in this new series of cruelty
since my release. They will not give up and let me go -- leave Israel. If they
could put me back in prison they would.
“My conclusion: the world continues to ignore my situation and is not
doing anything to help me gain my freedom in the same way it did during the
18 years of my imprisonment. Nobody will intervene to demand my release. The
world stands by and allows Israel to do as it pleases. The world will let them
commit more crimes such as kidnapping, injustice and cruelty.”
This last brush with Israeli authorities hasn’t been the first time Vanunu
has been detained since being released from prison in April 2004. 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.