Vanunu back in jail

Catholic New Times, April 10, 2005

JERUSALEM -- The Israeli nuclear whistleblower, Mordechai Vanunu, is facing another term in prison after he was charged March 17 with breaching a gag order imposed on his release from an 18-year sentence last April. Israeli prosecutors laid 22 charges against Vanunu at a Jerusalem magistrate's court for allegedly exposing nuclear secrets in interviews with the foreign press and for attempting to visit Bethlehem at Christmas. If convicted, he faces up to two years in jail.

Vanunu told the British paper, The Guardian, that he did not know if the charges were a serious attempt to put him back in prison or simply to silence him amid an international campaign to have the restrictions lifted when they come up for renewal in July.

"They have to decide what they want to do with me. The police spent a lot of time watching me to see what I was doing and now they charged me for giving interviews to the foreign media. It is a breach of the conditions of my release. I don't think it is a big offence but maybe they do."

After his release, Vanunu began giving interviews to several media outlets. A convert to Christianity, Vanunu also faces charges of attempting to leave the country, most notably last Christmas Eve when he was stopped by the army on his way to attend midnight mass in Bethlehem. "I have no more secrets to tell and have not set foot in Dimona for more than 18 years," Vanunu said in an interview.

"I have been out of prison, although not free, for one year. Despite the illegal restrictions on my speech, I have again and again spoken out against the use of nuclear weapons anywhere and by any nation. I have given away no sensitive secrets because I have none."