Mordechai Vanunu

Mordechai Vanunu in the garden of St. George's Cathedral. This picture was taken two days after his 21 April 2004 release from prison

Mordechai Vanunu (Hebrew: מרדכי ואנונו‎), born in Marrakech, Morocco on 13 October 1954 is an Israeli former nuclear technician who revealed details of Israel's nuclear weapons program to the British press in 1986. A 26-year-old female Israeli agent subsequently lured him to Italy in a "honeypot" operation. Israeli agents then drugged and transported him to a boat waiting off the Italian coast. He was transported to Israel where an Israeli court convicted him of treason.

Mordechai Vanunu spent 18 years in prison, including more than 11 years in solitary confinement. Vanunu was released from prison in 2004, subject to a broad array of restrictions on his speech and movement. Since then he has been briefly arrested several times for violations of those restrictions, including giving various interviews to foreign journalists and attempting to leave Israel.

In 2007 Vanunu was sentenced to six months in prison for violating terms of his parole. The sentence was considered unusual even by the prosecution who expected a suspended sentence. In response, Amnesty International issued a press release on 2 July 2007, stating that "The organization considers Mordechai Vanunu to be a prisoner of conscience and calls for his immediate and unconditional release."[1] Vanunu has been characterized by some as a whistleblower[2][3] and by others as a traitor.[4][5][6][7] He is considered by many Europeans as a 'hero of the nuclear age'[8] and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize every year from 1988 to 2004.

Contents

Early and educational life

Vanunu was born in Marrakech, Morocco to a Jewish family; his father was a rabbi. In 1963, at the age of nine, he emigrated under the Law of Return with his parents and the first 4 of his 11 brothers and sisters to Israel. In 1973, he enrolled for a mathematics and physics program at Tel Aviv University. However extended reserve duty in the 1973 Yom Kippur War and a shortage of funds caused him to break off his studies.[9] Vanunu completed his three years of military service as a sapper in the IDF Combat Engineering Corps, with the rank of First sergeant. After completing his service and starting work at the Negev Nuclear Research Center, Vanunu became a part-time geography and philosophy student at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev,[9] where he became critical of many policies of the Israeli government, forming a group called "Campus" with four other Jewish students and five Arab students. Vanunu was also affiliated with a group called "Movement for the Advancement of Peace."

Vanunu graduated from Beersheba University in 1985 with a BA in Philosophy and Geography.[10]

Negev Nuclear Research Center

Vanunu's photograph of a Negev Nuclear Research Center glove box containing nuclear materials in a model bomb assembly, one of about 60 photographs he later gave to the British press.

Between 1976 and 1985, Vanunu was employed as a nuclear plant technician and shift manager at the Negev Nuclear Research Center, an Israeli facility used to develop and manufacture nuclear weapons,[9][11] located in the Negev desert south of Dimona. Most worldwide intelligence agencies estimate that Israel developed nuclear weapons as early as the 1960s, but the country has intentionally maintained a "policy of deliberate ambiguity", neither acknowledging nor denying that it possesses the weapons. It was during his employment there that one of the left-wing groups in which Vanunu held membership protested against Israel's 1981 destruction of Iraq's Osiraq nuclear reactor, which was part of the Iraqi nuclear weapons development programme. The Jerusalem Post stated that Vanunu took active part in these protests,[12] arguing that this showed that he was motivated by antipathy to Israel in his later actions.

It is believed that at Dimona, Vanunu became increasingly troubled about the Israeli nuclear weapons programme on which he worked. When he was laid off from Dimona in 1985, Vanunu left Israel. He arrived in Nepal and considered a conversion to Buddhism, later traveling to Burma and Thailand. In 1986, he traveled to Sydney, Australia. While there, Vanunu lived in a hostel in Kings Cross and worked in odd jobs, first as a hotel dishwasher and later as a taxi driver.

Vanunu began to attend the local church, St. John's, Darlinghurst. There he met the Reverend John McKnight, who worked with the homeless and drug addicts. Vanunu converted to Christianity and was baptized as John Crossman into the Anglican Church of Australia, making him further estranged from his family.

Disclosure, abduction, and publication

On 5 October 1986, the British newspaper The Sunday Times ran the story on its front page under the headline: "Revealed: the secrets of Israel's nuclear arsenal."

While in Sydney, he met Peter Hounam, a journalist from The Sunday Times in London. In early September 1986, Vanunu flew to London with Hounam, and in violation of his non-disclosure agreement, revealed to The Sunday Times his knowledge of the Israeli nuclear programme, including photographs he had secretly taken at the Dimona site.

The Sunday Times was wary of being duped after having previously been embarrassed by the Hitler Diaries hoax. As a result, the newspaper insisted on verifying Vanunu's story with leading nuclear weapon experts, including former U.S. nuclear weapons designer Theodore Taylor and former British designer Frank Barnaby, who agreed that Vanunu's story was factual. Vanunu gave detailed descriptions of lithium-6 separation required for the production of tritium, an essential ingredient of fusion-boosted fission bombs. While both experts concluded that Israel might be making such single-stage boosted bombs, Vanunu, whose work experience was limited to material (not component) production, gave no specific evidence that Israel was making two-stage thermonuclear bombs, such as neutron bombs. Vanunu described the plutonium processing used, giving a production rate of about 30 kg per year, and stated that Israel used about 4 kg per weapon.[13][14] From this information it was possible to estimate that Israel had sufficient plutonium for about 150 nuclear weapons.[15]

Vanunu states in his letters that he intended to share the money received from the newspaper for the information with the Anglican Church of Australia. Apparently frustrated by the delay while Hounam was completing his research, Vanunu approached a rival newspaper, the tabloid Sunday Mirror, whose owner was Robert Maxwell, a jew who is now buried in Israel. In 1991, a self-described former Mossad officer or government translator named Ari Ben-Menashe alleged that Maxwell had tipped off the Mossad, possibly through British secret services, about Vanunu. It is also possible that they were alerted by enquiries made to Israelis or to the Israeli Embassy in London by Sunday Mirror journalists.

The Israeli government decided to detain Vanunu, but determined that to avoid harming its good relationship with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and not to risk confrontation with British Intelligence Vanunu should be persuaded to leave UK territory under his own volition. Masquerading as an American tourist called "Cindy", Israeli Mossad agent Cheryl Bentov befriended Vanunu, and on 30 September persuaded him to fly to Rome with her on a holiday.[16] Once in Rome, Mossad agents captured, drugged and carried him to Israel on a freighter, beginning what was to be more than a decade of solitary confinement in Israeli prisons.

On 5 October, the Sunday Times published the information he had revealed, and estimated that Israel had produced more than 100 nuclear warheads.

Imprisonment

Vanunu revealed details of his detention by writing on his hand: "Vanunu M was hijacked in Rome. ITL. 30.9.86, 21:00. Came to Rome by fly BA504."

Vanunu was put on trial in Israel on charges of treason and espionage. The trial, held in secret, took place in the District Court in Jerusalem before Chief Justice Eliahu Noam and judges Zvi Tal and Shalom Brener. He was not permitted contact with the media but he wrote the details of his abduction (or "hijacking" as he put it) on the palm of his hand, and while being transported he held his hand against the van's window so that waiting journalists could get the information.

On 27 February 1988, the court sentenced him to 18 years' imprisonment from the date of his capture. The Israeli government refused to release the transcript of the court case until, after the threat of legal action, it agreed to let censored extracts be published in Yedioth Ahronoth, an Israeli newspaper, in late 1999.

The death penalty in Israel is restricted to special circumstances. In 2004, former Mossad director Shabtai Shavit told Reuters that the option of extrajudicial execution was considered in 1986, but rejected because "Jews don't do that to other Jews."[17]

The Israeli government kept him in near total isolation for more than 11 years, allegedly out of concern that he might reveal more Israeli nuclear secrets and because he was still bound by the contract that swore him to secrecy on the subject. While in prison, he refused psychiatric treatment.

Many critics argue that Vanunu had no additional information that would pose a real security threat to Israel, and that the Israeli government's real motivation is a desire to avoid political embarrassment and financial complications for itself and allies such as the United States. By not acknowledging possession of nuclear weapons, Israel avoids a US legal prohibition on funding countries which proliferate weapons of mass destruction. Such an admission would prevent Israel from receiving, as it does now, more than $3 billion each year in military and other aid from Washington.[18]

Ray Kidder, then a senior American nuclear scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, has said:

“ On the basis of this research and my own professional experience, I am ready to challenge any official assertion that Mr. Vanunu possesses any technical nuclear information not already made public.[19] ”

His last appeal against his conviction, to the Supreme Court of Israel in 1990, failed.

While in prison, Vanunu says, he took part in small acts of rebellion, such as refusing to talk with the guards, reading only English-language newspapers, and watching only BBC television. "He is the most stubborn, principled, and tough person I have ever met," said his lawyer, Avigdor Feldman.

Release and Asylum Applications

In 2004, shortly before his scheduled release, Vanunu remained defiant under interrogation by the security service, Shin Bet. In recordings of the interview made public after his release, he is heard saying "I am neither a traitor nor a spy, I only wanted the world to know what was happening." He also said, "We don't need a Jewish state. There needs to be a Palestinian state. Jews can, and have lived anywhere, so a Jewish State is not necessary."[20]

Vanunu was released from prison on 21 April 2004. He indicated a desire to completely dissociate himself from Israel, initially refusing to speak in Hebrew, and planning to move to Europe or the US[21] as soon as the Israeli government would permit him to do so.

A number of restrictions were placed upon Vanunu by Israeli authorities, who stated their reason was fear of him spreading further state secrets and that he is still bound by his non-disclosure agreement. These stipulate that he must inform the authorities of his place of residence and his movements between cities, and may not leave the country. These restrictions were extended to April 2006,[22] and then April 2007, due to his violations of court rulings. While a court found in 2005 that he should be free to go to the Gaza Strip and West Bank, the 2006 restrictions explicitly forbade him to visit either, reversing the court's initial decision. In addition, Vanunu is not allowed to meet with foreigners or contact them by phone or e-mail, enter or approach any embassy, visit any port of entry, or come within 500 metres of any international border crossing.

Vanunu says that his knowledge is now outdated and he has nothing more he could possibly reveal that is not already widely known. Despite the stated restrictions, since his release Vanunu has freely given interviews to the foreign press, including a live phone interview to BBC Radio Scotland.

On 22 April 2004, Vanunu asked the Norwegian government for a Norwegian passport and asylum in Norway for "humanitarian reasons," according to Norwegian news agencies. He also sent applications to other countries, and stated that he would accept asylum in any country because he fears for his life. Former conservative Norwegian Prime Minister Kåre Willoch asked the conservative government to give Vanunu asylum, and the University of Tromsø offered him a job. On 9 April 2008, it was revealed that Vanunu's request for asylum in Norway was rejected in 2004 by Erna Solberg, Minister of Local Government in the coalition government lead by then Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik. While the Norwegian foreigner directorate (State Department) (UDI) had been prepared to grant Vanunu asylum, it was suddenly decided that the application could not be accepted because Vanunu had applied for it from outside of the borders of Norway. An unclassified document revealed that Solberg and the government considered that extracting Vanunu from Israel might be seen as an action against Israel and thereby unfitting the Norwegian government's tradition role as a friend of Israel and as a political player in the Middle East. Since the information has been revealed, Solberg has rejected criticism and defended her decision.[23][24][25]

Vanunu's application for asylum in Sweden has also been rejected on the grounds that Sweden, like Norway does not accept absentee asylum applications. He also unsuccessfully requested asylum in Ireland, which would require him to first be allowed to leave Israel.

In 2006, Microsoft was accused [26] of helping Israeli police to obtain documents incriminating Vanunu.

On 22 February 2006 in a Jerusalem court it was revealed that Israeli police had led Microsoft to hand over all the details of Vanunu's Hotmail email account by alluding that he was being investigated for espionage. This happened before a court order had been obtained[27]

Vanunu wrote:

Microsoft obeyed the orders and gave them all the details...three months before I was arrested and my computers were confiscated...it is strange to ask Microsoft to give this information before obtaining the court order to listen to my private conversations. It means they wanted to go through my emails in secret, or maybe, with the help of the secret services, the Shaback, Mossad

.

International calls for his freedom of movement and freedom of speech made by organizations supporting Vanunu have been either ignored or rejected by Israel.

On 15 May 2008, the Norwegian Lawyer's Petition for Vanunu was released. It calls on the Norwegian government to urgently implement a three-point action plan within the framework of international and Norwegian law and allow Vanunu to travel to, live and work in Norway.[28]

Arrests and hearings

Vanunu was denied parole at a hearing in May 1998.[29] Five years later, parole was again refused. At this parole hearing, Vanunu's lawyer Avigdor Feldman maintained that his client had no more secrets and should be freed. But the prosecution argued that the imminent war with Iraq would preclude his release. After the hearing Mr Feldman said:

"The prosecutor said that if Vanunu were released, the Americans would probably leave Iraq and go after Israel and Israel's nuclear weapons - which I found extremely ridiculous."

The real force blocking Vanunu's release who had been known only as "Y" was exposed in 2001 as Yehiyel Horev, the head of Mossad's nuclear and military secrets branch.[30] Following his release in 2004, Vanunu appeared in Israeli courts on numerous occasions on charges of having violated the terms of his release. He was arrested and detained for attempting to go to Bethlehem, on at least one occasion his room in St. George's Cathedral was raided by policemen and his belongings were confiscated.[31]

November 26, 2008: "Vanunu's Supreme Court appeal fighting a three month jail sentence [reduced from six] for speaking to foreigners-who happened to be media-in 2004, is scheduled to be heard in the New Year." [1]

Support, awards, and honors

Amnesty International described his treatment as constituting "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment [...] such as is prohibited by international law."

Vanunu received the Right Livelihood Award in 1987, and was given an honorary doctorate by the University of Tromsø in 2001. He was nominated by Joseph Rotblat for the Nobel Peace Prize every year from 1988 to 2004. Former recipients are among the thousands of people and groups with rights to nominate Nobel candidates. The secretive Nobel committee never comments on specific nominations, but members often note that anyone can be nominated. In 2006 there were 191 nominations for the prize.[51]

In 2005 he received the Peace Prize of the Norwegian People (Folkets fredspris). Previous recipients of this prize include Vytautas Landsbergis (1991), Alva Myrdal (1982), Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams.

In September 2004, artist and musician Yoko Ono gave Mordechai Vanunu a peace prize founded in her late husband, John Lennon’s memory.

In December 2004, as a statement of solidarity, he was elected by the students of the University of Glasgow to serve for three years as Rector.[52] On Friday 22 April 2005 he was formally installed in the post,[53] but cannot carry out any of its functions as he is still confined to Israel. Since then The Herald newspaper has launched a campaign for his release.

4 June 2008: Vanunu seeks support in his Letter to Editors and the world: "I am asking the Media to report on my case and on the efforts of Norwegian Lawyers and citizens to grant me asylum...Israel was founded contingent on upholding the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I am asking the world to demand they honor it."[2]

See also

Bibliography

Documentaries

References

  1. ↑ "Israel: Israel: Mordechai Vanunu sentence clear violation of human rights". Amnesty International (2 July 2007).
  2. ↑ "Correspondent: Israel's Secret Weapon (transcript)", BBC (17 March 2003). 
  3. ↑ "Capturing nuclear whistle-blower was 'a lucky stroke,' agents recall", Ha'aretz (12 November 2006). 
  4. ↑ "The meaning of Vanunu". Jewish World Review (26 April 2004).
  5. ↑ "Vanunu: traitor or prisoner of conscience?", The Sydney Morning Herald (22 April 2004). 
  6. ↑ "Vanunu: Hero or traitor?", j. (23 April 2004). 
  7. ↑ "Vanunu 'wanted to avert holocaust'", BBC (29 May 2004). 
  8. ↑ http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0421-06.htm
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Yossi Melman (25 April 2004). "Who's afraid of Mordechai Vanunu?", Haaretz. Retrieved on 2008-03-04. 
  10. ↑ Fleming, Eileen (5 February 2007). Third Intifada/Uprising: NONVIOLENT But With Words Sharper Than A Two-Edged Sword - Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory. Outskirts Press. p. 104. ISBN 1432702548. 
  11. ↑ "Israel: Plutonium Production". The Risk Report (Wisconsin Project On Nuclear Arms Control) 2 (4). July-August 1996. http://www.wisconsinproject.org/countries/israel/plut.html. Retrieved on 2006-12-19. 
  12. ↑ "??? (Problem with this URL)", Jerusalem Post (???). 
  13. ↑ "Focus: The secrets that shocked the world", The Sunday Times (25 April 2004). 
  14. ↑ Frank Barnaby (Autumn, 1987). "The Nuclear Arsenal in the Middle East" (PDF). Journal of Palestine Studies 17 (1): 97–106. doi:10.1525/jps.1987.17.1.00p0146h. http://armscontrolwonk.com/Barnaby.pdf. Retrieved on 2006-12-28. 
  15. ↑ Frank Barnaby (14 June 2004) (PDF), Expert opinion of Frank Charles Barnaby in the matter of Mordechai Vanunu, http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/israel/barnaby.pdf, retrieved on 2007-12-16 
  16. ↑ Yossi Melman (21 April 2004). "Capturing nuclear whistle-blower was 'a lucky stroke,' agents recall", Haaretz. 
  17. ↑ "Israeli nuclear whistleblower due to be released from jail (transcript from AM radio)", Australian Broadcasting Corporation (12 February 2004). 
  18. ↑ "Calls for Olmert to resign after nuclear gaffe", The Guardian (13 December 2006). 
  19. ↑ "U.S. Expert: It's Safe to Release Vanunu". Nonviolence.org (from Ha'aretz) (26 January 2000).
  20. ↑ "Vanunu defiant ahead of release", BBC (2004-04-19). Retrieved on 2007-10-03. 
  21. ↑ "Discussion with a Friend from JAKARTA (letter from Vanunu)". The Mordechai Vanunu Website (13 January 2006).
  22. ↑ "Israel extends Vanunu travel ban", BBC (19 April 2005). 
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Erna Solberg hindret Vanunu i å få asyl - VG Nett
  24. ↑ Vanunu: - Håper Norge angrer asyl-avslaget - VG Nett
  25. ↑ Vanunu-venner i harnisk - VG Nett
  26. ↑ "Today, our chance to fight a new hi-tech tyranny", The Observer (28 May 2006). 
  27. ↑ "UK Indymedia - Vanunu Freedom Ride - Mission Accomplished!", UK Indymedia (22 April 2007). 
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Arabisto.com
  29. ↑ "Vanunu denied parole", BBC (4 May 1998). Retrieved on 2008-10-05. 
  30. ↑ "Israeli nuclear 'power' exposed", BBC (16 March 2003). Retrieved on 2008-10-05. 
  31. ↑ "Israelis seize Vanunu inside cathedral", timesonline (12 November 2004). Retrieved on 2008-10-05. 
  32. ↑ "Bishop angry over Vanunu arrest", BBC (11 November 2004). 
  33. ↑ "Police keep Vanunu in Jerusalem", BBC (25 December 2004). 
  34. ↑ "Israel bars senior BBC producer", BBC (26 January 2005). 
  35. ↑ "BBC says sorry to Israel", The Guardian (12 March 2005). 
  36. ↑ "Vanunu held after West Bank visit", BBC (18 November 2005). 
  37. ↑ Vanunu convicted of violating order barring foreign contacts, Nir Hasson, Haaretz, 30 April 2007 (accessed 30 April 2007)
  38. ↑ "Vanunu jailed again after talks with foreigners", The Guardian (3 July 2007). 
  39. ↑ "Vanunu to return to prison for violating the terms of his parole", Haaretz (7 February 2007). 
  40. ↑ Vanunu to return to prison for violating the terms of his parole, Nir Hasson, Haaretz, 2 July 2007 (accessed 2 July 2007)
  41. ↑ Christmas Eve arrest
  42. ↑ The Vanunu Saga: 2008 By Eileen Fleming
  43. ↑ Voices - A Man without a Country has a Local and Global Community
  44. ↑ We Are Wide Awake.org - Eye Witness Reporting on Israel Palestine
  45. ↑ Vanunu's Fifth Year of Restrictions Begins and Norway Caves» OpEdNews
  46. ↑ On 13 May 2008 Vanunu wrote
  47. ↑ Judges delay decision
  48. ↑ Decision in September 2008
  49. ↑ Court announces Vanunu's sentence should be reduced
  50. ↑ "Scottish government backs call to free Israeli nukes whistleblower", Mathaba News Network (3 October 2008). Retrieved on 2008-10-05. 
  51. ↑ "The Norwegian Nobel Institute- From Nomination to Ceremony". Retrieved on 2007-06-22.
  52. ↑ "Vanunu elected university rector", BBC (16 December 2004). 
  53. ↑ "Formal installation of Mr Mordechai Vanunu as the 119th Rector of the University of Glasgow". University of Glasgow (22 April 2005).
Academic offices
Preceded by
Greg Hemphill		 Rector of the University of Glasgow
2004–2008		 Succeeded by
Charles Kennedy