Jailed for speaking to the press
Anti-nuclear campaigner and whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu has been sent back to jail for six months with a further six month suspended sentence, after giving interviews to journalists in the international media in breach of his parole conditions. These forbid him from talking to the press or having contact with foreign nationals.
“The International Federation of Journalists today condemned as “senseless and inhumane” the decision by an Israeli court to send Mordechai Vanunu, the man who told the world that Israel has developed nuclear weapons back to jail – three years after he ended an 18 year sentence for the original offence.
“Mordechai Vanunu has served his sentence and now he is being victimised for the crime of speaking to journalists,” said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. “It is senseless and inhumane to return him to prison because he acts according to conscience.”
While Israeli officials insist he still poses a security threat, Mordechai Vanunu says he does not want to divulge any more classified information about the Dimona nuclear plant where he worked. He is banned from leaving Israel but wants to start a new life abroad. His lawyer said that Vanunu was convicted for the mere act of speaking to non-Israelis, rather than the content of those conversations.
Despite the heavy price he had paid with his prison sentence he said he had no regrets.
http://ifj.org/default.asp?Index=5080&Language=EN http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6261204.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6607199.stm