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Mordechai
Vanunu
From Wikipedia, the
free encyclopedia
Mordechai Vanunu
(help·info)
(מרדכי ואנונו) (born
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 lured to Rome by an Israeli
Mossad
agent, abducted and smuggled to Israel, where he was tried
behind closed doors and convicted of
treason.
After 18 years in prison, more than
11 years of which were served 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. In March 2005 he was charged with 21 counts of
"contravening a lawful direction", with a maximum of two
years' imprisonment per count, and then released to await
trial, under the same rights restrictions as before.
Vanunu was seen by some
human rights
groups as a
prisoner of conscience.
In their 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'
[1].
The Israeli government still considers him a traitor, and
Vanunu continues to be highly critical of Israel's actions,
even rejecting the need for a
Jewish state.
If you want to come to know more
about Mr. Vanunu, please
click here
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