Mordechai Vanunu

File:Mordechai Vanunu.jpg

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

(Hebrew: מרדכי ואנונו; born Marrakech, Morocco, October 13 1954), also known by his baptismal name John Crossman, is an Israeli former nuclear technician who revealed details of Israel's nuclear weapons program to the British press in 1986. He was subsequently abducted in Rome by Israeli Mossad agents and smuggled to Israel, where he was tried in secret and convicted 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 multiple violations of those restrictions, including giving various interviews to foreign journalists and attempting to leave Israel. The court proceedings are ongoing, as well as Vanunu's appeal to the Supreme Court of the restrictions on his speech and movement.

Vanunu was seen by some human rights groups as a prisoner of conscience. In its press release of April 19 2005, Amnesty International said "If Mordechai Vanunu were to be imprisoned for breaching the restrictions imposed on him, Amnesty International would consider him to be a prisoner of conscience." Vanunu has been characterized by some as a whistleblowerand by others as a traitor. He has been highly critical of Israel's political actions, and rejects the need for a Jewish state to exist.

Early 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 11 brothers and sisters to Israel. Vanunu completed his three years of military service in the sapper unit of the Israeli Defense Forces, with the rank of sergeant. After completing his service, Vanunu became a philosophy student at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 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." He never graduated from the university.

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 at the Negev Nuclear Research Center, an Israeli facility which, according to the majority of defense experts, is used for manufacturing nuclear weapons and nuclear research; it is 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 purposely 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 believed to be part of the Iraqi nuclear weapons development program. The Jerusalem Post stated that Vanunu took active part in these protests, arguing that this showed that he was motivated by antipathy to Israel in his later actions. Vanunu has not responded to these claims.

It is believed that at Dimona, Vanunu became increasingly troubled about the widely believed Israeli nuclear weapons program on which he worked. When he was laid off from Dimona in 1985, Vanunu left Israel. He arrived at 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. 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

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On October 5, 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 program, including photographs he had secretly taken at the Dimona site. Anxious to avoid being duped by another Hitler Diaries-sized hoax, The Sunday Times spent extensive time verifying Vanunu’s story with leading nuclear weapon experts, including former U.S. nuclear weapons designer Theodore Taylor, who concluded that Israel had almost certainly begun manufacturing thermonuclear weapons. Vanunu gave detailed descriptions of lithium-6 separation and lithium hydride production required for the Teller-Ulam nuclear weapon design. 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.

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. In 1991, a self-described former Mossad officer called 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 the Israeli Embassy in London by Sunday Mirror journalists.

The Israeli government under prime minister Shimon Peres, who was personally responsible for the establishment of Israel's nuclear reactor, decided to detain Vanunu, but determined that to avoid harming its good relationship with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher diplomatic ties Vanunu should be persuaded to leave UK territory under his own volition. Knowing Vanunu's interest in women, on September 30, an Israeli Mossad agent, Cheryl Bentov, operating under the name of "Cindy" and masquerading as an American tourist, persuaded him to fly to Rome with her on a holiday. Once in Rome, Mossad agents captured him, drugged him and smuggled him to Israel on a freighter, beginning what was to be more than a decade of solitary confinement in Israeli prisons.

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

Imprisonment

File:764px-Vanunu-Hand big.jpg

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 camera (in secret), took place at 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 capture (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 (photo).

On February 27 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".

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 for itself and allies such as the United States. 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.

Others also questioned that a technician without a college degree would have any new valuable technical information.

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 even refused to eat food when it was served to him so as to maintain a small portion of his life not under Israeli control. "He is the most stubborn, principled, and tough person I have ever met," said his lawyer, Avigdor Feldman.

Release

In 2004, shortly before his scheduled release, Vanunu remained defiant under interrogation by the security service Shabak. 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."

Vanunu was released from prison on April 21 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 as soon as the Israeli government would permit him to do so. He denounced most of his family, but maintains a relationship with at least one of his brothers.

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:

• has to register to live in an Israeli city of his choice.
• has to give notice to the authorities if he wishes to travel to another city.
• is not allowed to leave Israel. This restriction has since been extended to April 2006, and yet again to 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.
• is not allowed to contact foreigners either by phone or in person or by e-mail.
• is not allowed to 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 all outdated, and that 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 April 22 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 has asked the conservative government to give Vanunu asylum, and the University of Tromsø has offered him a job. This application, as well as an application for asylum in Sweden has been rejected, since neither country accepts absentee asylum applications. He also unsuccessfully requested asylum in Ireland, which would require him to first be allowed to leave Israel. It has been reported that he also approached Russia and China about political asylum, but it is not known whether he has submitted official asylum applications to these countries.

Since his release, Vanunu has appeared in Israeli courts on numerous occasions on charges of having broken the sanction. 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. In 2006, Microsoft was accused of helping Israeli police to obtain documents incriminating Vanunu.

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

Latest arrests

2004

• On November 11 2004, Vanunu was arrested by the International Investigations Unit of the Israeli police at around 9am while eating breakfast. The arrest stemmed from an ongoing probe examining suspicions of leaking national secrets and violating legal rulings since his release from prison. Police officers wearing bulletproof vests and carrying machine guns entered into the walled compound of St. George's Anglican Church in East Jerusalem, where Vanunu had been renting a room since his release. Police removed papers and a computer from his room. After a few hours' detention, Vanunu was put under house arrest, which was to last seven days.
• On December 24, 2004, in a vehicle marked as belonging to the foreign press, Vanunu was apprehended by Israeli Police while he was attempting to enter the West Bank in violation of his release restrictions (see above), allegedly to attend mass at the Church of the Nativity. After posting bail of 50,000 NIS, he was released into five-day house arrest.

2005

• On January 26 2005, BBC reported that its Jerusalem deputy bureau chief, Simon Wilson, was banned from Israel after BBC refused to submit interview material made with Vanunu to Israeli censors. Vanunu gave the interview in violation of court orders. Wilson was allowed to return to Israel on March 12 after signing an apology letter acknowledging that he defied the law.

• On March 17 2005 Vanunu was charged with 21 counts of "contravening a lawful direction" (maximum penalty two years' imprisonment per count) and one count of "attempting to contravene a lawful direction."

• On November 18 2005 Vanunu was arrested at the al-Ram checkpoint north of Jerusalem as he was returning by bus from the West Bank. The Israeli authorities say Vanunu's travel ban includes visits to the Palestinian territories.

Most recent trials

On April 13 2007, Vanunu was informed that the Israeli government has continued his house arrest in Jerusalem and has renewed all the restrictions against him, for the fourth time and third year of captivity in east Jerusalem.

On April 30 2007, Vanunu was convicted of violating the order barring foreign contacts and traveling outside Jerusalem.

Vanunu's human rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN in 1948 was ratified by Israel and was contingent upon their statehood.

Article 13-2 affirms: "Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own."

The Israeli government refuses to allow Vanunu to leave claiming he still has a secret he has yet to tell about the underground WMD program in the Negev. Vanunu has not set foot into the Dimona for 21 years and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Inspectors never have.

On February 22 2006 in a Jerusalem court it was revealed that Israel had asked Microsoft to hand over all the details of Vanunu's Hotmail account before a court order had been obtained [1].

In March 2006, Vanunu informed this reporter, "The Dimona is 46 years old; reactors last 25 to 30 years. The Dimona has never been inspected and Israel has never signed the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty but all the Arab states have...when I worked there they only produced when the air was blowing towards Jordan ten miles away. No one knows what is happening now."

On March 29 2007, The Jerusalem Post quoted Yonatan Leibowitz, Greenpeace Mediterranean Communications Director, "Despite Israel's policy of nuclear ambiguity, international reports maintain that this country contains nuclear facilities. Israelis have the right to know where these facilities are and the right to understand the serious risks to health and the environment posed by these installations. Ambiguous policies about the possible existence of a nuclear program in Israel only serve to destabilize the region."

Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which Israel agreed to uphold states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion: this right includes freedom to change his religion."

During this reporter's June 2005 interview with Vanunu he emphasized, "When I decided to expose Israel's nuclear weapons I acted out of conscience and to warn the world to prevent a nuclear holocaust...I am also regarded as a traitor because I was baptized a Christian.

"My Christian conversion was also considered as treason and led to me receiving more time in jail than any murderer has ever served. The Israelis have this very beautiful article about freedom and liberty but they want to destroy anyone who criticizes them for revealing the truth to the world. The world must look and see what kind of democracy Israel is when one speaks out the truth."

In 2004, Vanunu stated, "...from the beginning they put me in total isolation for seven weeks after my kidnapping they even didn't admit I am in an Israeli prison...they put me in total isolation. The first two years, they keep me in a small room, filled with light 24 hours and camera inside. I couldn't sleep for two years; they tried to break my nerves. I demanded to meet a priest. They give me a priest, but without able to speak to him or him speak to me, only through notes. A ShinBet man sitting near the priest, reading the notes. I'm sending him notes, they're reading them. We couldn't meet as a human being. Eleven and a half years I was in total isolation alone in a cell." http://www.democracynow.org/static/vanunu.shtml

"Israel is the only State that approved torture of detainees...there are dictators who use torture, but Israel is the only State that supported torture until 1999. That is when International, Israeli and Palestinian pressure groups forced the issue and Barack was confronted about it when he visited the United States...The methods and photos from Abu Grahib and Guantanamo were no shock to any Palestinian who had been in prison between 1967 and the '80's. All the methods used in Abu Grahib were normal procedures against Palestinians. In 1999 Internationals, Palestinians and Israelis for human rights threatened a boycott against Israel and that is what forced the Supreme Court to address the torture issue. They did not ban torture and the General Prosecutor can choose not to prosecute those who still use it." [Ala Jaradat, Director of ADAMEER [Arabic for Conscience] to this reporter, January 5, 2006, in Ramallah ]

Article 9 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights commands that, "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile."

On Christmas Eve 2004, Vanunu was arrested while in a taxi attempting to travel the few miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to attend mass at the Church of The Nativity. Instead of going to church, he was hauled into jail and charged with; "attempting to leave the country."

Article 19 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights acknowledges, "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

On February 22, 2006 in a Jerusalem court it was revealed that Israel had led Microsoft to hand over all the details of Vanunu's Hotmail account by alluding Vanunu was being investigated for espionage and before a court order had been obtained.

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."

Attorney Michael Sfard repeatedly requested Police Representative Mr. Peterburg, to specifically state what type of espionage activity Vanunu was accused of. According to Vanunu, "The policeman did not have any answers and said that he brought all the evidence to the court. When Sfard asked him again about any material related to the 'espionage' charge, Peterburg had no answers.

"Sfard proved that the police had misled the judges who gave the orders to arrest me: to search my room, to go through my email, to confiscate my computers and that they misled Microsoft to believe they are helping in a case of espionage. The State came to the court with two special secret Government orders; Hisaion [documents or information that are deemed confidential by the government and kept from the court, the defendant, and lawyers.] This allows the prosecution to keep documents related to my court hearing secret. One was from the Minister for Interior Security and one from the Minister of Defense."

Vanunu's secretly taped police interrogations, his 2004 Christmas Eve arrest for "attempting to leave the country" while traveling the four miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, the confiscation of his private property by thirty IDF that stormed into his room at St. George's Cathedral, according to Vanunu, have all "been done...under the false and misleading statements to the courts of 'suspicion of espionage', and yet they are not charging me with spy crimes... and the fact is that I have not committed any crimes."

Support, awards, and honors

The European Parliament has condemned Israel's treatment of Vanunu, and referred to his detention by Mossad agents as a gross violation of Italian sovereignty and international law. 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.

In 2005 he received the Peace Prize of the Norwegian People (Folkets fredspris). Previous recipients of this prize includes Vytautas Landsbergis (1991), Alva Myrdal (1982), Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams. The University of Tromsø awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2000.

In September 2004, artist and musician Yoko Ono has given 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. On Friday April 22 2005 he was formally installed in the post, but cannot carry out any of its functions as he is still confined to Israel. Since then the Glasgow Herald has launched a campaign for his release.

Vanunu has been officially adopted by Nick and Mary Eoloff from Minnesota, USA, a couple belonging to a Christian pacifist movement.

See also

• Israel and weapons of mass destruction
• Nuclear proliferation
• List of people convicted of treason
• List of people considered whistleblowers

Bibliography

• Black, Ian. Israel's Secret Wars: A History of Israel's Intelligence Services, Grove Press, 1992, ISBN 0-8021-3286-3
• Cohen, Avner. Israel and the Bomb, New York: Columbia University Press (1999), ISBN 0-231-10483-9
• Cohen, Yoel. The Whistleblower of Dimona: Israel, Dimona & the Bomb. ISBN 0-8419-1432-X
• Gaffney, Mark. Dimona: The Third Temple? The Story Behind the Vanunu Revelation. ISBN 0-915597-77-2
• Gilling, Tom and John McKnight. Trial and Error — Mordechai Vanunu and Israel's Nuclear Bomb. 1991 Monarch Publications. ISBN 1-85424-129-X
• Hounam, Peter. The Woman from Mossad: The Torment of Mordechai Vanunu. ISBN 1-58394-005-7 paperback edition title: The Woman from Mossad: The Story of Mordechai Vanunu & the Israeli Nuclear Program
• Toscano, Louis. Triple Cross. 1990 Birch Lane Press ISBN 1-55972-028-X
• Spiro, Gideon. Vanunu and the Israeli Bomb.

External links

Source documents and interviews

• Sunday Times articles from 1986
• Mordechai Vanunu's photos of Dimona - 1985
• Vanunu receives honorary doctorate
• Mordechai Vanunu Risks Jail To Speak to Democracy Now! in First Nat'l U.S. Interview
• Vanunu arrested by Israeli police
• Enav, Peter. "Israeli nuclear whistle blower Mordechai Vanunu arrested for passing on classified documents." The Associated Press. November 11, 2004. [2]
• Kayw, Taakov, and Arieh O'Sullivan. "A-G orders Vanunu arrested." The Jerusalem Post. November 11, 2004. [3]
• "Israeli police detain nuke whistleblower Vanunu." Reuters. November 11, 2004. [4]
• Biographical interview with Mordechai Vanunu published in a Hebrew newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, 1999
• Our Son, The Rebel interview with his adoptive parents, 2002.
• Ari Ben-Menashe on the Capture of Mordechai Vanunu
• Metro Interview (UK free paper given out in cities)
• "Vanunu held after West Bank visit" The BBC. November 18, 2005
• 27 February 2006 Independent Catholic News - Josephine Siedlecka

Israeli government statements

• Memorandum Regarding Mordechai Vanunu on the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs website

Human rights bodies

• Amnesty International report from 1998
• Amnesty International report from April 2004
• Amnesty International Press release, April 2005
• International Freedom of Expression Exchange

Current affairs coverage

• Excerpts from Vanunu's statement upon release from prison
• BBC Correspondent — Israel's Secret Weapon, broadcast on March 17, 2003, gave an update of Vanunu's situation. There is also a transcript available.
• Better World Links on Mordechai Vanunu and Israel's Atomic Weapons
• A Mossad perspective on the capture of Mordechai Vanunu in Haaretz.
• Left-wing commentary article reflecting on Vanunu, the state of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the general political situation (late 2004).

Public statements by Mordechai Vanunu

• Personal homepage of Mordechai Vanunu
• Letters from Solitary — book of letters from Mordechai Vanunu to Rev. David B. Smith of Sydney, Australia, through whom Vanunu converted to Christianity. PDF copy: Light version, the full version, with reproductions of each letter, is available from Father David's web site.
• Mordechai Vanunu: “Having the atomic bomb is what has allowed Israel to fearlessly carry out its apartheid policy” Voltaire Network, October 2005

Advocacy websites

• http://www.vanunu.org/ Vanunu collects donations through this website
• The 1987 Right Livelihood Award for Mordechai Vanunu
• Free Prisoner of Conscience, Mordechai Vanunu, With No Restrictions! (Report by The Israeli Committee for Mordechai Vanunu and for a Middle East Free of Atomic, Biological and Chemical Weapons)
• Sydney link to Israeli prisoner of conscience from The National Council of Churches in Australia.
• Information on Vanunu's candidature for Glasgow University Rector.
• Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign with information about his rectorship
• The Peace People, Belfast with various reports
• Liberdade para Mordechai Vanunu (Amnesty Group 19, Portugal)
• UK petition to apply pressure to free Vanunu

Preceded by Greg Hemphill

Rector of Glasgow University 2004—

Succeeded by Incumbent