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[Presented by Daniel Ellsberg at the UN on May 11, 2005, among the statements of Non-Governmental Organizations to the States Party to the Seventh Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons]
Nineteen years ago, Mordechai Vanunu, a technician at the secret nuclear weapons production facility at Dimona in Israel, did something that he was right to do, something that others with his knowledge of Israel’s nuclear activities and their implications for Israeli security and democracy and for world order should have done earlier, or later. He revealed to his fellow citizens and to the world truths about these activities that had long been wrongly concealed and denied by his government.
What he revealed was not merely that Israel was a nuclear weapons state; that had been known for more than a decade on the basis of widely-publicized leaks in the U.S. about official American intelligence estimates to this effect. Vanunu’s photographs and interviews with the London Sunday Times revealed that Americans and all others had substantially underestimated the pace and scale of the Israel’s secret and un-inspected production of nuclear materials and warheads, especially since the early ‘70’s. New estimates on the basis of his revelations put the Israeli arsenal in 1986 at some 200 warheads (rather than 20), making it the third or possibly fourth largest nuclear power, ahead of Britain and probably ahead of France. After nineteen more years of production, that ranking remains valid, with Israeli probably possessing closer to 400 weapons.
Did not Israelis, citizens of a democracy, and other nations of the world deserve to know this? Was not his example of truth-telling, at great personal risk, to be thanked and emulated? For a generation, the nuclear scientist Joseph Rotblat, a founder of the Pugwash Movement for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, has argued that the confidence required in the inspection and enforcement agreements on nuclear disarmament could and must rest in part on ‘societal verification’: the courage and conscience of scientists, technicians and officials who could reveal to inspectors activities violating those agreements. Unhappily, the last 35 years since the NPT went into effect have not seen many examples of such initiative, other than that of Mordechai Vanunu. Yet the potential value of such revelations, by someone willing, like Vanunu, to risk the heaviest personal costs, is ever more clear.
Imagine, for example, if an Indian citizen aware of India’s secret preparations for nuclear testing and of the disastrous impact this would foreseeably have on regional and world security had made this knowledge unequivocally public in time for world opinion to come to bear to avert that tragic error and the Pakistani testing it was sure to provoke. The result for that person could well have been a long prison sentence, as it was for Vanunu; yet surely such an act would deserve a Nobel Peace Prize, for which Rotblat, using his prerogative as a Nobel Laureate, has nominated Mordechai Vanunu repeatedly.
Now, a year after serving his full sentence of eighteen years, nearly twelve of them spent in solitary confinement in a two-by-three meter cell, Vanunu is under indictment and faces a return to prison for violating restrictions on his freedom of speech that clearly violate his fundamental human rights. He has and will continue to speak out in favor of a nuclear-free-zone in the Middle East and the global abolition of nuclear weapons, telling whatever he knows that supports these objectives. It is absurd to maintain, as the head of Israel’s security system does, that revelation of any further details he learned from his access in Dimona nineteen years ago could undermine Israeli national security, when no one has been able to identify any damage whatever to Israeli security in the years since his revelations in 1986. Rather, the prohibitions against his speaking to foreigners and to foreign journalists on any matters, or to his fellow citizens on nuclear matters, are clearly intended to extend his punishment in prison for unauthorized truth-telling for an indefinite period.
The deterrent message to other potential Vanunus, either in Israel or elsewhere, could not be more clear. In a world where more Vanunus are desperately needed, above all, in my own country, the United States, and other nuclear weapons states violating their Article VI obligations, is this a message that the rest of the world should tolerate to be sent unchallenged? In the interest of vital transparency and future societal verification, there should be international protest of Vanunu's new indictment and of the restrictions on his speech and travel.
It is time for the rest of the world to join Mordechai Vanunu in demanding that Israel acknowledge its status as a nuclear weapons state with a large and growing arsenal, and in demanding that ALL the nuclear weapons states--including Israel, India and Pakistan, but above all the U.S. and Russia--negotiate concrete steps on a definite time-table toward the global, inspected abolition of nuclear weapons.
I feel compelled to add a personal note. In the early 1960's, as a consultant to the Pentagon on nuclear command and control and nuclear war plans, I was aware that the recent characterization [in the latest issue of Foreign Policy] by Robert S. McNamara of our current nuclear policies was just as valid then: "Immoral, illegal, militarily unnecessary and dreadfully dangerous." That was demonstrated in classified documents I was reading, and in some I was writing.
I regret profoundly that I did not reveal those documents to my fellow Americans and the world at that time, though I would have gone to prison for it, like Mordechai Vanunu. But I did not have his example of courageous truth-telling then to awaken me to that responsibility. It is my hope that people and governments will press the government of Israel now to free Vanunu to speak throughout the world as a prophet of nuclear abolition.
22 April 2005 Letter to Ariel Sharon from the International Delegation in Israel
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Please also see 22 April Press Release
Dear Prime Minister Ariel Sharon,
We, delegates from several countries gathered in Jerusalem for the anniversary of Mordechai Vanunu's release, express our concern, disappointment, shock and disbelief at the recent decision to renew the sanctions on Mordechai Vanunu for another 12 months. To us, Mordechai Vanunu is a hero of world peace and a voice of sanity and truth in a world increasingly threatened by the insanity of nuclear weapons.
Your courts found him guilty of espionage and treason and sentenced him to 18 years in prison. The crime for which he was sentenced was revealing the secrets of Israel's nuclear arsenal - although 19 years later you officially tell the world that Israel has no nuclear arsenal at all. Mordechai Vanunu served his cruel sentence in Israeli prisons and last year, on the 21st of April, we were present at Ashkelon for his release.
We pass over his unlawful kidnapping in Rome and his unlawful return to Israel, shackled and drugged. We pass over his secret trial and conviction and the long period of solitary confinement you imposed on him, which shocked the world and created a new unflattering record for this type of inhumane and barbaric treatment of a human being. These are all in the past and while they remain as stubborn facts that can never be erased we are concerned now only with the present.
Since his release last April, Mordechai Vanunu has been forbidden to enjoy two of the most basic rights of human beings: freedom of speech and freedom to travel. He has now received a new order not to talk about the subject of Dimona or nuclear weapons even if what he says has already been published. The spurious and specious argument has been made within Israel that "he has more secrets to tell." Outside of Israel, few believe this argument. Even within Israel, many Israelis do not believe it. All the information that he has was published 19 years ago in the Sunday Times. Nuclear technology has moved on. It is clear that the restrictions placed on Mordechai Vanunu must not be for reasons of Israeli security but for reasons of revenge, anger or even malice.
Mordechai Vanunu, who today was inaugurated as Rector of Glasgow University and has received innumerable other honors from around the world, has said NO to these unjust and cruel sanctions. Outside and inside of Israel, most fair-minded people agree with him. It will not redound to the benefit of Israel if your government continues to play with the life, feelings and dignity of this human being.
We have resolved that while he is forbidden to speak, we will speak out openly and often on his behalf in our different countries around the world. While he is forbidden to travel, your country's reputation with regard to human rights will continue to decline. We do not wish this on your country. We join with other organizations, groups and individuals around the world in asking you with all the vehemence and power we can muster to do the big thing, the noble thing and the right thing and let Mordechai Vanunu go.
Somewhere it as been said, a prophet is honored everywhere but in his own country. Mordechai Vanunu has tried to save the children of Israel from a nuclear disaster. Do not dishonor him. Give him his passport and let Mordechai Vanunu go.
Best personal wishes,
Members of the international delegation
19 April 2005 Meeting in the Knesset
Please also see 20 April Press Release
The following statements given today to the Israeli Knesset Committee
on Law, Constitution and Justice, which met to discuss and hear testimony
concerning Mordechai Vanunu's restrictions. Jakob von Uexkull and Michael
P.D. Ellman made their statements in person.
Statement by Jakob von Uexkull
Presentation to the Knesset Constitution, Law and Judiciary Committee April 19, 2005
"I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for inviting me to speak. I am a former Member of
the European Parliament, where I served on the Political Affairs Committee.
I hold Swedish and German nationality but was born stateless, as my father
was a political refugee from Germany. Several of my relatives were executed
by the Nazis for their resistance activities..."
Read the full statement (Word file 27kb)
Statement by Michael P.D. Ellman
Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales
"I have considered the charge sheet against MORDECHAI VANUNU dated 17 March
2005, and in particular the Restriction and Monitoring Order issued in
respect of Mr.Vanunu, and am acquainted with the facts relating to his
detention and his release in 2004. He is forbidden ..."
Read the full statement (Word file 6kb)
Statement by Daniel Ellsberg
Vanunu's Threat to "Ambiguity" and to Israel's National Security
"'So what did Vanunu do after all?'
asked Yechiel Horev-- in charge of security for the Israeli defense
establishment, Vanunu's nemesis -a year ago. It was at the close
of last year's Knesset hearings on Mordechai Vanunu's imminent release
from prison under restrictions on his speech and travel. Horev went
on, 'What is the meaning of ambiguity?' ..."
Read the full statement (Word file 51kb)
15 April 2005 Leaflet for Israel
Download leaflet in Word format (English version)
The international delegation to Israel, meeting in the week of the first
anniversary of Mordechai Vanunu's release from prison, will be distributing
the following leaflet during their activities in Israel. It will be
distributed in English and in Hebrew:
Mordechai Vanunu is Being Silenced -
The Nuclear Danger Just Increases
The State of Israel is investing immense resources in the attempt to silence and restrict nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu - surveillance, arrests, the use of British Mandate State of Emergency regulations, conducting a fabricated trial and a system of incitement and slander against him, all in the name of maintaining security.
- Who maintains our security from radiation
that contaminates the air, the water and the land?
- Who maintains our security from a second Chernobyl in
the Negev?
- Who maintains our security from an old and dangerous
reactor that has never been inspected by an external authority?
- Who maintains our security from the nuclear arms race
in the Middle East, that endangers us and all peoples in the region?
No one.
The government of Israel refuses to inform the citizens about Israel's nuclear program and tells us to "trust" anonymous authorities that operate in the dark. The Knesset refuses to discuss the nuclear program, its impact on our lives, on the economy, on the arms race, on the future of the residents of the Negev and the entire country. Mordechai Vanunu, who acted out of concern and responsibility and exposed the truth, was imprisoned for 18 years, including 11 and a half years in solitary confinement, and even after he completed his full sentence, the state refuses to let him go free.
How much does it cost to produce and maintain a nuclear arsenal? What dangerous materials are already in the land, the water and the air in the Negev? How many disasters have already taken human lives? How many reactor employees have become ill and died due to exposure to dangerous materials? Where is the radioactive waste buried? Who is authorized to instruct the use of nuclear weapons? The government refuses to answer these questions. Instead, it silences and restricts the only person who challenged the policy of ambiguity.
We say: nuclear weapons cannot be hidden from the citizens of this country and from the world. It is our right to know about the existence and the condition of a nuclear installation that endangers our country and the region. It is our right to decide, whether we want weapons of mass destruction, or do we choose life and peace.
Peace activists from Israel and from the world are currently acting in Israel, calling for a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction, for peace, for safety from nuclear disaster and for the freedom of Mordechai Vanunu. We say to the citizens of Israel and of the region: we know, that weapons of mass destruction are unsafe for those who possess them and devastating to their victims. The only outcomes from possessing nuclear weapons are: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the legacy of deadly cancers and the scandal of further impoverishment of the world's poor. This is not peace nor security.
Join us in demanding from the government of Israel:
- Open all nuclear installations to civilian and international inspection
- Close the Dimona reactor
- Halt the Israeli nuclear program
- Free Mordechai Vanunu
The International Campaign to Free Mordechai
Vanunu and for a Middle East Free of Nuclear Weapons
Tel. 050-7368236
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15 April 2005 Leaflet for the vigil on 22nd April
Considering the ongoing persecution of Mordechai Vanunu and in solidarity
with vigils and actions in different parts of the UK and the world London
supporters will have a vigil outside the Israeli Embassy on Friday, April
22nd off High Street Kensington and opposite the entrance to Palace Green,
where the Israeli embassy is situated. We will begin at 12 noon and stay
until 2. The nearest tube station is High Street Kensington. Turn right as
you exit the station and walk about 5-10 minutes along the main road.
You are welcome to join us. Attached is the leaflet we will be using. If
you would like to use it or adapt it for your own supporting work please do
so and let us know!
Download leaflet in Word format
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14 April 2005 Latest news update from the Campaign office
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Hello Vanunu Supporter and Friend,
Quite a lot has been happening in the last few days, so we thought it a good time to send you an update before the international delegation, supporting Mordechai on the anniversary of his release, starts to arrive in Israel this weekend.
You will most probably know that on March 17th Mordechai was charged with 22 violations of his restrictions: 21 for talking to foreign journalists and one for attempting to leave Israel. In fact Mordechai was trying to get to Christmas Eve, midnight mass in Bethlehem - hardly a dash for the border!!
The court hearing for these charges was heard on Tuesday, April 12th, after one postponement. Avigdor Feldman, Mordechai's lawyer, apparently made a very good and rousing defence in court. During a one hour speech he attacked the very basis of the charges; he questioned thieir validity pointing out that there was no evidence to back up the accusations and further insisted that the prosecution must be compelled to give evidence, not behind closed doors , to show how what Mordechai said, and says, could threaten and undermine Israeli state security. Having made a number of rather powerful points he concluded that, on the basis of the charges presented Mordechai should have no case to answer. The judge directed that the prosecution has to present a better-prepared case by May 18th or at the next court hearing, the following day, he could throw out the charges.
Mordechai was clearly pleased with the morning events and, after the hearing, he made a positive statement to the assembled supporters and media (I don't think there has been any news coverage of this here, except, maybe in Glasgow).
Also, over the last couple of days, regrettably, Mordechai has been served with papers that say his present restrictions will be continued and may even be made more severe; demanding that Mordechai speak to no-one about nuclear weapons or Dimona, the nuclear research centre where he worked. Mordechai has a very short time within which to appeal against the outrageous continuation of these restrictions.
Meanwhile, preparations or the international delegation continue. The delegation will number about 40 people: smaller that last year's but still a good number. Our first get together with Mordechai will be next Monday, April 18th, at St. George's Cathedral, where most of the delegation will be staying.
On April 19th there will be a special meeting of the Knesset's prestigious Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, convened at the request of Issam Makhoul, an Arab member of the Israeli parliament. That session will hear arguments against the restrictions and why they should not be continued - a bit late! We will have three people putting forward this case: two lawyers - one Israeli and one British - and one other, a trustee from the Campaign, Jakob von Uexkull. This committee does not make policy; it functions like our parliamentary committees; it reports and recommends. If it came out against the restrictions, unlikely, that would cause quite a stir, and represent an important shift of opinion.
Later in the week, after various vigils at ministries and a candlelight vigil in West Jerusalem, the delegation will go to Dimona, on April 21st, for another demonstration against that nuclear research centre and in solidarity with Mordechai's opposition to its existence.
We hope that on April 21st, the anniversary
of Mordechai's release from prison, as many people as possible will
join our 'snowstorm' protest, suggested by the US Campaign, and
e-mail, fax, telephone and send letters to any or all of the following
names. Please make this effort as well supported as possible and
circulate it through as many other networks as you can reach.
A number of different groups, worldwide have also decided to hold vigils over this period, mostly on April 21st or 22nd. In Hiroshima, Shinji Noma will be holding a vigil at the Atom bomb memorial with friends and colleagues. His wife will be with us in Israel, on the delegation.
Other vigils will be held in America. Here there will be vigils in Oxford and London, and in Glasgow University, on April 22nd, there will be a ceremony to install Mordechai as rector.
In London the vigil will be on Friday, April 22nd off High Street Kensington and opposite the entrance to Palace Green, where the Israeli embassy is situated.
For more information about Hiroshima contact Shinji Noma: snoma@do7.enjoy.ne.jp
For Oxford - Irene Brennan: Irene.brennan@ukgateway.net
For Glasgow - Mick Napier:michaelnapier@blueyonder.co.uk
We know you will do all you can, over the next few days, for Mordechai and his continuing fight for full freedom. And thank you to everyone for your continuing concern, support and solidarity in this long running struggle in pursuit of justice for Mordechai in his fight against Israel's brutal policies.
With my best wishes,
Ernest Rodker
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06 April 2005 The Testimony of a Nuclear Expert
The overriding charge against Mordechai Vanunu is that he possesses secret information. This statement from Frank Barnaby, who is a nuclear physicist and has been working on nuclear related issues since 1951, puts that charge into perspective:
"The knowledge that Vanunu had about Israel's nuclear weapons, about the operations at Dimona, and about security at Dimona could not be of any value to anyone today."
This statement was made on the occasion of the first review of the restrictions orders in June 2004, and addressed to the supreme court of Israel.
As Mordechai faces renewed assaults on his freedom of expression and human rights by the recent charges against him this statement has not lost any of its relevance or urgency.
Expert Opinion Of Charles Frank Barnaby In The Matter Of Mordechai Vanunu
I offer this opinion instead of testifying in a court of law. I hereby declare that I am aware that for the purpose of instruction on criminal law concerning falsified testimony under oath at the court of law, this opinion when signed by me is valid as testimony given under oath at the court of law.
My name is Frank Barnaby. I am a nuclear physicist by training and have been working on nuclear related issues since 1951 (see attached CV). I am still doing so, working with the Oxford Research Group, researching into civil and military nuclear issues. A major aspect of my work has been the study of various aspects of nuclear weapons, beginning with work at the British Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston and more recently in relation to the 2005 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference.
In September 1986, I was employed as a consultant by the London Sunday Times to interrogate Mordechai Vanunu to assess his knowledge of nuclear physics and engineering and to examine the credibility of his claim to have worked as a technician at Dimona on sensitive operations. To this end, I spent three days with Vanunu, first in secret locations near London and then in the Sunday Times offices. The 57 photographs taken by Vanunu at various locations in Dimona were made available to me for examination. I also attended the trial of Vanunu at the Jerusalem District Court in 1987, called by the defence to give expert evidence.
I must say that I found the fact that Vanunu was able to smuggle a camera and films into and out of Dimona and photograph highly sensitive areas in the establishment astonishing. My experience in working at Britain's nuclear-weapon establishment makes me wonder whether the security personnel really did not know about this.
I very vigorously cross-examined Vanunu, relentlessly asking the same question in a number of different ways and at different times. This cross-examination of Vanunu convinced me that he had, as he claimed, worked as a technician on several processes in Dimona. It was also clear to me that his knowledge of the nuclear physics and engineering was limited to an elementary grasp of the subjects. He had precisely the sort of knowledge that you would expect a technician to have and no more. For example, he did not know the precise critical mass of weapon-grade plutonium, the function of a reflector/tamper in a nuclear weapon, the number of detonators that would probably be used to set off the high-explosive lenses, the type of neutron initiator used, and so on, let alone more sophisticated details.
I found that Vanunu was very straightforward about his work at Dimona and about what he did and did not know and made no attempt to discuss matters outside his experience and knowledge. This, and the photographs he brought with him, considerably increased his credibility. I discussed Vanunu's information in some detail with other nuclear physicists, particularly the eminent American nuclear-weapon designer Theodore Taylor, who also found it credible.
Vanunu explained to me that the Dimona nuclear establishment is divided into nine independent production units (Machons), each occupying a separate building. He described each unit. Machons 1 and 2 are the most important - Machon 1 containing the plutonium-production reactor and Machon 2 the plutonium-separation (or reprocessing) plant, the lithium-6 separation plant and the tritium production facility. The plutonium metal spheres for the nuclear weapons are produced in this building.
Machon 2 has eight floors - two above ground and six below ground. Vanunu explained what happened on each floor. He described the operations in each section of the reprocessing plant in particular detail, giving quantitative information about each of the main operations. It was from this data that the amount of plutonium produced could be estimated.
When I questioned Vanunu about his motives for violating Israel's secrecy laws he explained to me that he believed that both the Israeli and the world public had the right to know about the information he passed over. He seemed to me to be acting ideologically. Israel's political leaders have, he said, consistently lied about Israel's nuclear-weapon programme and he found this unacceptable in a democracy.
Vanunu was most concerned about the amount of plutonium that Israel had produced at Dimona over the years and, therefore, the number of nuclear weapons it could have produced. He did not know the actual number nor did he have the knowledge that would have enabled him to calculate that number. But the information Vanunu gave about the amount of plutonium produced at the reprocessing plant allowed the number to be estimated.
The number is far higher than independent analysts had calculated. Instead of the six or so nuclear weapons it was generally assumed were in Israel's nuclear arsenal, Israel had, according to Vanunu's figures, produced enough plutonium to produce up to twenty times this number (some 150 nuclear weapons).
Moreover, the information he gave about the amount of plutonium produced showed that the thermal power output of the Dimona reactor had been significantly increased (by a factor of about four) above the 26 megawatts (thermal) thought to have been the power of the reactor originally installed by the French. Once again, this information surprised independent analysts.
Although Vanunu gave information about the production of tritium and lithium-6 deuteride at Dimona he knew very little about what these materials were, or could be, used for. Vanunu's information about the production at Dimona of lithium-deuteride in the shape of hemispherical shells was a surprise. He had no idea of the importance of this information and what it implied for the potential quality of Israel's nuclear force.
Such components were used both by the British and Soviets to boost nuclear-fission weapons (the so-called layer-cake design). It raised the question of whether Israel had boosted nuclear weapons in its arsenal. If so, these weapons could have had explosive yields several times greater than the yields of non-boosted weapons (equivalent to about 20,000 tonnes of TNT).
Vanunu's knowledge of nuclear-weapon design did not include knowledge about boosted fission weapons and he did not, to say the least, know much about thermonuclear weapons. However, the information he gave suggested that Israel had more advanced nuclear weapons than Nagasaki-type weapons.
The knowledge that Vanunu had about Israel's nuclear weapons, about the operations at Dimona, and about security at Dimona could not be of any value to anyone today. He left Dimona in October 1985 and the design of today's Israeli nuclear weapons will have been considerably changed since then. Nuclear weapons dropped from aircraft are quite different to those delivered by Jericho missiles. Modern nuclear weapons bear little relationship to those of the mid-1980s. Moreover, the security at Dimona would presumably have been tightened up after the Vanunu affair.
My clear impression at the time - and eighteen years has not altered it - was that I had extracted from Vanunu the full limit of the pieces in his possession to a much larger puzzle, itself now obsolete, which he had not been sufficiently qualified to assemble.
Signed
C.F.Barnaby
14 June 2004
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05 April 2005 Media Udate
Vanunu Hearing on Restrictions Violations Potstponed
The preliminary hearing in the trial of Mordechai Vanunu on charges of
violating the restrictions by talking to the international media, originally
scheduled to take place in the Magistrate's Court in Jerusalem on April 6,
has been postponed until April 12, at 15:00.
Vanunu is being charged with violating the restrictions imposed against him
upon his release from prison on April 21, 2004, which prohibit him from
speaking to reporters or any foreign nationals, leaving Israel and which
otherwise severely limit his right to free speech and his freedom of
movement.
The prosecution of Mordechai Vanunu for speaking with representatives of the
media has been denounced by the International Federation of Journalists,
Index on Censorship and dozens of international figures, including Pentagon
Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg.
Vanunu will be represented by Attorneys Avigdor Feldman and Michael Sfard.
Nuclear Whistleblower Awarded Norwegian People's Peace Prize
Mordechai Vanunu has been awarded the Norwegian People´s Peace Prize for
2005 for his courageous action to protect the people in Israel, the Middle
East and the world against destruction in a nuclear holocaust. Earlier
recipients of this prize have been Alva Myrdal (Sweden), Mairead Corrigan
and Betty Williams (Northern Ireland), Vytautas Landsbergis (Lituania) and
Dom Helder Camara (Brazil).
Three of the People's Prize recipients (Myrdal, Corrigan, Williams) have
also received the Nobel Peace Prize, and Mordechai Vanunu has again been
nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2005.
A number of weapons inspectors have been searching for nuclear weapons in
the Middle East. Only Vanunu found such weapons. The Norwegian People´s
Peace Prize was given to Vanunu as a reaction to the gross unfairness in
subjecting him to excessive punishment, instead of praise and gratitude.
The prize will be formally announced to Vanunu at a ceremony in Jerusalem on
April 20.
Knesset Constitution, Law and Judiciary Committee to Convene on April 19
The Knesset Constitution, Law and Judiciary Committee will convene on
April 19, to discuss the restrictions imposed against Mordechai Vanunu, at
the initiative of Knesset Member Issam Makhoul. A panel of international and
local legal and nuclear experts will be present to put forth the case for
Vanunu's freedom. The meeting of the committee will take place at the
Knesset at 11:00 a.m.
International Delegation to Protest Restrictions, Prosecution of Vanunu
An international delegation organized by the International Campaign to
Free Mordechai Vanunu will be in Israel from April 18-22. Along with Israeli
anti-nuclear, environmental and human rights activists, the delegation,
numbering several dozen people, will hold a variety of activities to protest
the restrictions imposed on Vanunu and his current prosecution on charges of
violating the restrictions, and calling for a nuclear-free Middle East.
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04 April 2005 Action Alert: Israeli government contact information
PLEASE IMMEDIATELY PROTEST THIS CONTINUED PERSECUTION OF MORDECHAI VANUNU
The severe restrictions placed on Mordechai Vanunu upon his release from prison April 21, 2004 are a grave injustice which keep Vanunu from truly being free after serving his full 18 year sentence in Ashkelon Prison. The restrictions violate Vanunu's freedom of speech and association, and forbid him from leaving Israel. These March 17 indictments, just a month before Vanunu's restrictions are to be reviewed, are a continued outrage. We need to tell Israel to stop punishing him, dismiss these indictments, lift the restrictions and let him go.
Please contact the following officials:
- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
3 Kaplan St.
Hakirya, Jerusalem 91007 ISRAEL
Fax: +972 2 566 4838
Email: rohm@pmo.gov.il
- Ms. Tsippi Livni
Minister of Justice
29 Salah al-Din St.
Jerusalem 91010 ISRAEL
Fax: +972 2 628 5438
Email: sar@justice.gov.il
- Mr. Gideon Ezra
Minister of Internal Security
P.O. Box 18182
Jerusalem 91181 ISRAEL
Fax: +972 2 581 1832
Email: sar@mops.gov.il
- Ophir Paz-Pines
Interior Minister
Ministry of the Interior
2 Kaplan Street
Jerusalem
ISRAEL
For those in the U.K., information for Israeli Embassy in London:
- His Excellency the Ambassador
Zvi Heifetz
The Embassy of Israel
2 Palace Green
London W8 4QI
For those in the U.S., information for Israeli Embassy in D.C.:
- Daniel Ayalon
Ambassador of Israel
3514 International Drive NW
Washington, DC 20008 US
Phone: 202-364-5500
Fax: 202-364-5607
Email: ambassador_sec@israelemb.org
Visit http://mfa.gov.il/mfm or http://www.embassyworld.com/embassy/israel1.html to find the contact information for Israeli Embassies in your country.
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04 April 2005 Oral Intervention of Pax Christi Internationalis Concerning the Indictment of Mordechai Vanunu Sponsored by International Peace Bureau
UN Commission on Human Rights
61st Session, Item 11
Civil and political rights, including the question of Freedom of expression.
Pax Christi International wishes to express our grave concern regarding the newest indictment against Mordechai Vanunu in Israel. Mr. Vanunu is the nuclear whistleblower that disclosed to the Sunday Times that Israel was stockpiling nuclear weapons at the Dimona Research Centre. For this he was kidnapped from the streets of Rome and forcibly returned to Israel where he was sentenced to eighteen years in prison. He served his entire sentence, 11 ½ years of which were spent in solitary confinement, with the lights on twenty four hours a day for the first two of those years.
Whatever one's opinion concerning the legality of Mr. Vanunu's original actions, it is clear that he has paid for them quite fully. It is also clear that much of his sentence was served under conditions that constitute psychological torture.
Our particular concerns today arise from the administrative restrictions placed upon him when he was released in April 2004 and the current indictment for violations of those restrictions. Mr. Vanunu has not been permitted to leave Israel or start his life anew. Moreover, he is forbidden to speak with any foreigners about any subject. The proffered justification for this was that he might reveal new secrets, even though he was simply a technician and has not set foot in the Dimona plant for over eighteen years. He has nonetheless bravely spoken out to foreign reporters and human rights networks about the dangers of nuclear proliferation and nuclear accidents in the Middle East, including Israel. For this he has been re-arrested twice and is now threatened with re-imprisonment
We find this treatment of Mr. Vanunu a serious violation of his fundamental human rights to freedom of speech and travel. Over the past year he has only repeated what has now become public knowledge, and no new or classified information is forthcoming. Alleged risks to Israeli national security are not justified or proportionate to these restrictions. Mr. Vanunu should be permitted to speak freely according to his conscience about the dangers of nuclear proliferation. To limit this freedom constitutes a grievous violation of a basic right.
Lastly, Pax Christi International wishes to thank Mr. Vanunu for his ongoing courage in speaking in opposition to nuclear weapons. In this time of heightened insecurity, we encourage all persons with knowledge of secret nuclear weapons to come forward. We believe that this is a matter of grave concern to the entire global community and urge that all existing nuclear weapons be either dismantled or appropriately monitored by international agencies.
The charges against Mordechai:In the Magistrates Court in Jerusalem
The Accuser
The State of Israel
Represented by the State Attorney's Office
Beit Mitzpe, 1 Hasorag St., Jerusalem
Dan Eldad,
Senior Assistant I to the Jerusalem District Attorney
Jerusalem, March 17, 2005
The Defendant is hereby charged as follows:
Read the Charge Sheet |
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VANUNU
WAS FREED ON 21ST APRIL 2004
YET STILL REMAINS HELD IN ISRAEL AGAINST
HIS WILL |
