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About Vanunu
Some information, newsletters and books about Mordechai Vanunu, including recent letters from Vanunu himself.For more information than you'll find here, a LYCOS search will probably yield best results (27 listings for keyword "vanunu" at last visit).
- BOOKS.
- LETTERS via newsletter of the U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu.
- AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CALLS FOR THE RELEASE OF MORDECHAI VANUNU as redress for violations of his human rights.
- On the LEGALITY OF VANUNU'S ABDUCTION AND IMPRISONMENT via "The Campaign to Free Vanunu and For a Nuclear Free Middle East" Newsletter
BOOKS about the case of MORDECHAI VANUNU.
TRIPLE CROSS - by Louis Toscano
1990 Birch Lane Press
ISBN 1 - 55972 - 028 - XTRIAL AND ERROR - by Tom Gilling and John McKnight
1991 Monarch Publications
ISBN 1 - 85424 - 129 - XLETTERS FROM VANUNU, via newsletter of the U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu.
Reprinted from a letter by the U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu Mordechai Vanunu Breaks 5-year Silence
Mordechai Vanunu is the anti-nuclear whistle blower who has been imprisoned for eight and a half years in Israels high security prison at Ashkelon. His recent letters make clear that Vanunu has broken five years of silence, in order to restate the case against nuclear secrecy and nuclear proliferation for which he risked his life and liberty by revealing his governments nuclear secrets to a British newspaper in l986. Vanunus letters to Suzannah York, the English actress; to Fredrik S. Heffermehl, the Chairman of the National Peace Council of Norway who has nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize; and to Sam Day, Coordinator of the U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu, speak so eloquently that excerpts from all are being used here.In 1990 Vanunu ceased communicating with the outside world, raising concern for his physical and mental health in the six-by-nine foot concrete cell which has contained him since l986. His return to the fray has given fresh hope to his supporters in Israel, Britain, the United States and other countries. Second, there has been a surprising victory over governmental censorship in Israel, which has long stifled public information there about the l986 abduction of Vanunu and his illegal transport back to Israel for secret trial. . . . Third, we have news from Sam Day, Coordinator of the U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu, who entered a U.S. Air Force base last February in an act of solidarity with Vanunu and is now serving a six-month federal prison term. Citing Mordechais call to other to follow his example by challenging nuclear secrecy in their own countries, Sam trespassed at the U.S. Strategic Command (Stratcom), which controls the targeting and launching of all U.S. long-range nuclear weapons, thousands more than Israel has produced. He says that he hopes his own prison witness, though much less noteworthy than Vanunus will prompt other Americans to re-examine the level of their own commitment to a nuclear-free world.
Reprinted below are excerpts from Vanunus letter to Fredrik Heffermehl, Chairman of the National Peace Council of Norway and Vice President of the International Peace Bureau, who has nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. The letter was delayed and substantially damaged by Israeli censors.
I have received your last letter and I want to thank you very much for naminating me for the Nobel Peace Prize. We citizens have the right to know what governments are doing in their nuclear installations. That is the reason why I took my story to the newspaper and not to the security services. As you know, I risked my life and now have lost my freedom. I have a few other points I would like to make:1. In the situation of nuclear peril all peoples are one. No nations, no countries or boundaries.
2. In this nucler age everyone on this earth has the right to information. Even the most democratic states try to preserve their nuclear secrets. Let my people know!
3. In the nuclear age a mans obligation is to his fellow human beings. Governments should consider their policies in the interests of all humanity. Even in democratic states people cannot trust their leders. After the Cold War the people of the free world need less and less secrets. Today the real enemies are the secrets themselves and the security services.
What I want to say about my Christianity is that this country, Israel, is a religious state--an apartheid state. Those who belong to the Jewish race have all the rights. The Arabs dont have equal rights, so I dont want to belong to this super-race. I can only be free from it if I belong to another faith.And in a letter to Sam Day he writes,
This year of the 50th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we have to remember and not forget the Holocaust of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This is the real danger of this age. . . . another Chernobyl or nuclear proliferation to more countries. In this year the trust must be said that the Holocaust on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a war crime. It was not necessary, it was a test on human beings. . . That is the problem with nuclear weapons and with power. When they succeed to make the bombs, then they want to justify their work. This 50th anniversary of Hiroshima dn Nagasaki can be a year of telling the truth about the danger of the nuclear proliferation, the danger of producing and possessing too much power in a human hand and telling the truth that Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not necessary at all.
This year also the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty must be signed by all the nations. These two events are very important to all those who want to make the world free. . . yours in peace,
Vanunu MordechaiDate: Sat, 29 Apr 1995 16:20:59 -0700 From: Felice and Jack Cohen-JoppaMessage-Id: <199504292320.QAA03643@igc2.igc.apc.org> To: pjml@israel.nysernet.ORG Subject: PLEASE POST THIS IF APPROPRIATE Following is the text of a mailing prepared by the U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu, which includes substantial excerpts from three letters recently written by the imprisoned Israeli nuclear critic, plus the cover letter. For more information, email inquiry to <nukeresister@igc.apc.org> or write U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu, 2206 Fox St., Madison, WI 53711. Include a postal address and we will send you a hard copy of this posting, including the reproduced page from VanunuUs censored letter to Sam Day. Contributions are gladly accepted. April, 1995 Dear Friends, We`d like to share with you some hopeful developments in the international campaign to free Mordechai Vanunu, the anti-nuclear whistle blower, from eight-and-a-half years of solitary confinement in Israel`s high security prison at Ashkelon. First, as the enclosed letters make clear, Vanunu has broken five years of silence, in order to restate the case against nuclear secrecy and nuclear proliferation for which he risked his life and liberty by revealing his government`s nuclear secrets to a British newspaper in 1986. Vanunu`s letters to Suzannah York, the English actress; to Fredrik S. Heffermehl, the Chairman of the National Peace Council of Norway who has nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize; and to Sam Day, Coordinator of the U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu, speak so eloquently that we are reprinting much of them here. Please share them with your friends and others. In 1990, Vanunu ceased communicating with the outside world, raising concern for his physical and mental health in the six-by-nine foot concrete cell which has contained him since 1986. His return to the fray has given fresh hope to his supporters in Israel, Britain, the United States and other countries. Second, there has been a surprising victory over governmental censorship in Israel, which has long stifled public information there about the 1986 abduction of Vanunu and his illegal transport back to Israel for secret trial. Last March 23, after a six-month battle with military censors, the Tel Aviv daily
published a detailed account of Vanunu`s kidnapping. A few days before the October 6, 1986 publication of his story in the of London, Vanunu was lured to Rome by a female agent of the Israeli secret service, then kidnapped, drugged, and spirited away to Israel via an Israeli merchant marine ship. The story included interviews with Israeli naval cadets, confirming the kidnapping story that Vanunu had told family members during visits in jail before his trial. For repeating this story to the British press, Israel threatens to prosecute Vanunu's brother Meir should he ever return to srael, for revealing state secrets. night editor Hagar Lahav told the of London, ``Among all the mysteries, one of the mysterious things is why at last the censor has given us permission to publish it.`` Whatever the reason, another wedge has been placed to help widen cracks in the secrecy that surrounds IsraelUs nuclear weapons program. Vanunu`s renewed communication challenges us to hammer on this wedge, and place more of our own wherever nuclear secrecy threatens democracy. Third, we have news for you from Sam Day, Coordinator of the U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu, who entered a U.S. Air Force base last February in an act of solidarity with Vanunu and is now serving a six-month federal prison term. Citing Mordechai`s call to others to follow his example by challenging nuclear secrecy in their own countries, Sam trespassed at the headquarters of the U.S. Strategic Command (Stratcom), which controls the targeting and launching of all U.S. long-range nuclear weapons (thousands more than Israel has produced). He noted that though Stratcom's existence is a matter of public record, curtains of secrecy dropped by the Air Force, the courts, the clergy, and the media shield the public from the impact of that reality. At this writing, Sam is completing his second month in a noisy, crowded county jail in Omaha, Nebraska. He says he hopes that his own prison witness, though much less noteworthy than Vanunu`s, will prompt other Americans to re-examine the level of their own commitment to a nuclear-free world. As publishers of (P.O. Box 43383, Tucson, AZ 85733) and also long-time supporters of Mordechai Vanunu, we echo that sentiment. The struggle against nuclear secrecy must be a world-wide cause. Sincerely, Felice Cohen-Joppa & Jack Cohen-Joppa Acting coordinators, U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu BACK TO THE TOP <
> Jan. 1, 1995 Ashkelon Prison, Ashkelon, Israel Dear Susannah York, I just want to thank you, and to send you my greetings, and that I am very apreciate what you have said about me. I want to tell you that you are the one who see and understand my action in the same way as I believed and did. When I read what you have said it was like I myself speaking. It is great and wonderful to have people like you who act and came to help and to do on behalf of me and on behalf of my action. So I am writing you to supporte you and to supporte all those who want to supporte me. Your action and speaking very bold and clear and loud make me happy and give me strength and encouragement to keep on in this ``dark age``. This solitary confinement and even I am not speaking and writing. My silence is very noisy and a man who act and succeed to do what I did, nothing and no one can silence my spirit, my mind. There is no boundaries or prisons to the human spirit - I am still alive. I am waiting to my release. Even you didn`t see me. Don`t be upsent. This is there way to break me and my supporters and my comfort as I wrote in the begining ``they never will succeed to change what I have done - It is ireverseble.`` As you had said it is a Benchmark, a standard, but now you are the standard. You and all those who support my action against the nuclear prolifiration. Against unlawful secrets. You are telling the world that in these maters there is no bounderies. No nations. It is an affair for all human being. For all peoples. To be against nuclear secrets is to be a pro real democratic state. Now after the cold war there is no enemies for the Democratic states. The only enemies left from this Cold War is the secrets. Secrets and democratic cann`t live together. To keep man in solitary confinement is a secret. Is anti democratic. Unhumanbeing. To make the world more democratic is must be achieve by less and less secrets. Where there is less secrets there you can find more human rights. So thank you very much to all who stand behind me and working for my release. LOVE PEACE Vanunu Mordechai, J.C. <. This letter was delayed and substantially damaged by Israeli censors.>> Feb. 19, 1995 Ashkelon Prison, Ashkelon, Israel Dear Fredrik, I have received your last letter and I want to thank you very much for nominating me for the Nobel Peace Prize [...] We citizens have the right to know what governments are doing in their nuclear installations. That is the reason why I took my story to a newspaper and not to the security services. As you know, I risked my life and now have lost my freedom. I have a few other points I would like to make: 1. In the situation of nuclear peril all peoples are one. No nations, no countries or boundaries. 2. In this nuclear age everyone on this earth has the right to information. Even the most democratic [states try to preserve their nuclear secrets]. ``Let my people know!``. 3. In the nuclear age a man`s obligation is to his fellow human beings. [Governments should consider their policies] in the interests of all humanity. Even in democratic states people cannot trust their leaders. After the Cold War the people of the ``free world`` need less and less secrets. Today the real enemies are the secrets themselves and the security services. [...] What I want to say about my Christianity is that this country, Israel, is a religious state -- an apartheid state. Those who belong to the Jewish race have all the rights. The Arabs don`t have equal rights, so I don`t want to belong to this super-race. I can only be free from it if I belong to another faith. That is all for this time. Thank you. Mordechai VanunuBACK TO THE TOP <
> March 1995 Ashkelon Prison, Ashkelon, Israel Dear Samuel Day, I want you to know that I am very appreciate what you and your freinds doing on behalf of my case, and I want to thank all of you. It is very encouraging to have people who understand what I have done and are caring and doing for my release. I am yet in solitary confinement, nothing have been change, and yet not allowed to write and speak [...]. I have received all your letters and many letters from U.S., and I start this year to write again. In spite of the censoreship, I must write and let the people know about my case, and let the people know that I am not interesting in religion. I am a mere Christian man and my case is not in religion fieled. My case is in [...] and to let the people know the truth. My mission is to say - those who suffered from the nazism holocaust must be against [...] because they can`t be allowed to use [...] to bring a Holocaust on other nations, on inocent citizenes people. [...], this year the 50th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaky, we have to remmber and not forget the Holocaust of Hiroshima and Nagasaky. This is the real danger of this age. The danger is not another Hitler or Nazism, but another chernovile, or nuclear proliferation to more countries. That can bring a Holocaust like the Hiroshima and Nagasaky, and in this year the truth must be said that the Holocaust on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaky it was a war criminal. It was not nesseccary. It was a test on human being. The truth is that U.S. had commit a war crime against inocent people. And the truth is that U.S. want to test nuclear weapons on human life. That is the problem with nuclear weapons and with power. When they succeed to make the bombs then they want to justify their work [...] and could happen in many other countries. So this 50st anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaky can be a year of telling the truth about the danger of the nuclear proliferation, the danger of producing and possessing too much power in a human hand and telling the truth that Hiroshima and Nagasaky was not necessary at all.[...] This year also the ``Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty`` need to be sign by all the nations. So these two events, to help my case and to make it very important to all those who want to make the world free [...] yours in peace, Vanunu Mordechai J.C.AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CALLS FOR THE RELEASE OF MORDECHAI VANUNU as redress for violations of his human rights.
/* Written 9:17 am May 27, 1994 by hnaylor@igc.apc.org in igc:ai.general */ /* ---------- "ISRAEL: Release Mordechai Vanunu" ---------- */ From: Hilary NaylorAmnesty International USA 322 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10001 MAY 26, 1994 ISRAEL: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CALLS FOR THE RELEASE OF MORDECHAI VANUNU AS REDRESS FOR VIOLATIONS OF HIS HUMAN RIGHTS Amnesty International is calling for the release of a former nuclear technician who has been held in solitary confinement by the Israeli authorities since they abducted and tried him secretly eight years ago. Mordechai Vanunu is serving an 18-year sentence in Ashkelon prison, after having been convicted of treason and aggravated espionage, for providing a British newspaper with classified information on Israel's nuclear program in 1986. He maintains that he disclosed such information for reasons of conscience in order to promote a public debate on Israel's nuclear program, a subject of strict secrecy in Israel. Vanunu was abducted by Israeli Government agents, apparently in Italy on September 30, 1986, and covertly taken to Israel, where he was held in secret detention. His trial, including his appeal, was held entirely in camera. Amnesty International is concerned that, in order to punish Mordechai Vanunu and deter others from making similar disclosures, the Israeli authorities have shown a determination to go far beyond what is legitimate under international human rights law. "The Israeli authorities clearly acted illegally in abducting Mordechai Vanunu and holding him in prolonged solitary confinement, a condition that we have long considered to constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment", Amnesty International said. "The real reason for his continued isolation appears to be to prevent Mordechai Vanunu from talking about his abduction and that makes it all the more unacceptable". Mordechai Vanunu is held in a single prison cell with no contact whatsoever with other inmates. He exercises in isolation and his access to the outside world is limited to visits by his family once every two weeks and occasional visits by his lawyer or a clergyman. Amnesty International has written to the Israeli authorities appealing for the release of Mordechai Vanunu following a decision by the organization's Standing Committee on the Mandate (SCM), which recently reviewed his case. The SCM concluded that Mordechai Vanunu, although not a prisoner of conscience under current Amnesty International policy on disclosure of confidential information, should be released as redress for the human rights violations to which he has been and continues to be subjected. EMBARGOED FOR THURSDAY, MAY 26, 1994 On the LEGALITY OF VANUNU'S ABDUCTION AND IMPRISONMENT.
THE CAMPAIGN TO FREE VANUNU and For a Nuclear Free Middle East. NEWSLETTER: autumn 1992 > I'm not a traitor. I'm a man with a conscience who did what he > did out of a deep belief after much thought and many doubts. But > I knew that I had to do it, that I had no choice. There's no one > else that could have done it. And somebody had to do it. -Mordechai Vanunu (20/XI/87) MORDECHAI NEEDS US Six years have passed since Israel kidnapped Mordechai Vanunu and sentenced him to 18 years imprisonment. During this time, Israel's western allies have refused to speak publicly about his information and about his illegal abduction. Mordechai's evidence - which has never been contested by Israel or the U.S. -- directly contradicts Israel's long standing declaration that it "will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East." Yet, while the U.S. shows great concern over nuclear proliferation by countries such as Pakistan, Iraq, and North Korea, with a $500 million aid cut to Pakistan in 1991, it chooses to turn a blind eye to Israel's nuclear activities and to the whole Vanunu affair. Mordechai enabled essential information concerning the nuclear issue in the Middle East to become available to the international community and to Israel's own citizens. This action led to the first open debate in Israel over nuclear weapons. According to a prominent commentator in an Israeli newspaper, "Vanunu is the one who drew the intelligent public's attention to the need for a public discussion on Israel's nuclear policy." Serious questions are at last being asked about such fundamental issues as radiation, nuclear waste disposal, safety procedures in nuclear plants, and the environmental effects of nuclear weapons production. In 1987, the authoritative Israeli military analyst Ze'ev Schiff wrote: "The issue of developing nuclear arms in Israel has been considered for years an absolute taboo in our country." The entire March 1992 issue of the Israeli magazine >Politika< was devoted to the nuclear question; an article by Professor Uri Ben- Eliezer of Tel Aviv University criticised Mordechai's treatment by the state, arguing that the courts in Israel collaborated with the politics of nuclear ambiguity. He added that Vanunu, via the >Sunday Times<, dug out and raised the nuclear issue from the depths of the sixth basement of Dimona and exposed it to the eyes of all. Nevertheless, Mordechai's contribution to the nuclear debate inside and outside Israel has still not been fully acknowledged. While the world's media routinely use Mordechai's information when reporting on Israel's nuclear capacity, the source, and the human price being paid for providing this information, are rarely, if ever, mentioned. For instance, in the >Wall Street Journal< (30 May, 1991) noted: "Though Israel does not officially acknowledge possessing nuclear weapons, _it is known_ to have covertly developed an arsenal of nuclear arms and _is believed_ to be the only country in the region to possess them" (our emphasis). Mordechai has done a service for the world community, and it is the duty of the world community, and particularly of the press, to act for his release. We welcome the June 1992 article in the >London Times< by the well-known columnist Bernard Levin, who called for an end to Mordechai's severe punishment and for his release. "Whatever offence Vanunu may have committed under Israeli law," Levin wrote, "Israel's entire legal system is stained by that one criminal act of abduction" Mordechai needs us. Only our continuing pressure will ensure that he is not forgotten, and that he will finally receive justice and freedom.BACK TO THE TOP ISRAELI JUSTICE "I contributed my share by making public what the public ought to know... and they shut my mouth behind the prison walls." -Mordechai Vanunu In the case of Mordechai Vanunu, justice has so clearly not been done, that one is forced to ask whether the Israeli authorities ever intended that he should receive justice. In the first place, the very right of an Israeli court to try Vanunu is in doubt, since, rather than seeking to extradite him, the Israelis illegally kidnapped him from Italy. Although the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states (Article 9), "No one shall he subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention", including abduction of a person by agents of one state to another state, the Israeli court took the view that it could try anyone under its jurisdiction regardless of how they arrived there. Mordechai was charged with treason and aggravated espionage. Under Section 99 of the Israeli Penal Code, treason is defined as "an act calculated to assist (an enemy) in time of war... delivering information with the intention that it fall into the hands of the enemy"; the penalty is life imprisonment or death. Section 113 defines aggravated espionage as "deliver(ing) any secret information without being authorised to do so and with intent to impair the security of the state"; the penalty is life imprisonment. A sub- clause of this section provides for a penalty of seven years for the unauthorised collection, preparation, recording or holding of secret information; if this is done with intent to impair the security of the state, the penalty is increased to 15 years. The question of intent was thus central to Mordechai's defence. However, the court ruled that a person is assumed to intend the natural and probable consequences of his actions; motive is immaterial regarding criminal responsibility. By majority ruling, the court found that his motivations were not ideological, though one of the three judges dissented from this finding. Mordechai's own statements regarding his intentions were not considered an acceptable defence. This, however, did not prevent the prosecution from introducing references to Mordechai's conversion to Christianity as a factor motivating his acts. Indeed, >Sunday Times< journalist Peter Hounam, who appeared as a defence witness, commented later "It is clear that, as far as Vanunu's accusers are concerned, the trial is not only about whether his decision to reveal the secrets of Israel's atom bomb amounted to treason and espionage, it is also about whether his decision to become a Christian was at the root of his alleged treachery". It was also alleged that Mordechai acted from financial motives, that he sold the story to the >Sunday Times<. However, Peter Hounam testified that "We did not pay him money, but only covered his expenses... Money did not motivate him", and the prosecution conceded that there was "no direct proof" that Mordechai had been paid. >Sunday Times< journalist Wendy Robbins later wrote "Mordechai never asked for nor received a single penny for his information... he blurted out the whole tale without first setting out any financial preconditions. Mordechai got nothing out of the whole episode. He never `sold' Israel's secrets -- he told them." The trial was held in total secrecy. Mordechai was taken to and from the court in handcuffs and leg-irons, in a van with darkened windows. He wore a crash helmet, and the van sounded a siren, in order to prevent him from communicating with journalists or sympathisers. Even during the court hearings, two Israeli security agents sat next to him in order to put their hands over his mouth if he revealed any secret information. The public, the press and all observers (including a delegate from Amnesty International) were excluded from the hearings, neither the transcript of the trial nor Mordechai's own has been published, and even the court's judgement was censored before publication. The defence cited Article 94 of the Penal Code which stated that an alleged security offence "shall not be regarded as an offence if it has been, or appears to have been, done in good faith with intent to bring about, by lawful means, a change in the structure of the state or the activities of any of its authorities..." The court rejected this argument, and convicted Mordechai of all the charges, sentencing him to 18 years imprisonment. Mordechai appealed against both verdict and sentence. This appeal, which was also conducted behind closed doors, was rejected, as was Mordechai's final appeal for a rehearing of the case. The courts ruled that it was irrelevant whether the information given by Mordechai was true; that the prosecution did not have to prove that actual harm had been caused to Israel's security; and that it was a more serious offence to give secret information to a newspaper than to an enemy. In his judgement, Deputy Supreme Court President Menachem Elon stated that "Freedom is not license... and civil rights are not a recipe for national suicide." Following the appeal verdict, defence lawyer Avigdor Feldman stated that "the Supreme Court has trivialised the term `treason' in this case". Mordechai Kremnitzer, dean of the School of law at Jerusalem University, stated that the charge of treason was inappropriate: "One needs to distinguish between information given to the media and the normal type of espionage testimony the treason charge comes close to stopping freedom of expression and the public's right to know". Mordechai himself, in a message from his prison cell, told supporters: "Keep thinking about me. I feel very good. I'm strong enough to wait until my release... I hope one day justice will be done... "
BACK TO THE TOP Produced by: The Campaign To Free Vanunu and For a Nuclear Free Middle East, 6 Endsleigh St, London WC1H ODX, England. Mordechai Vanunu's address is: Ashkelon Prison, Ashkelon, Israel. None of this material is copyright. Feel free to reprint and disseminate all, or any of this newsletter as widely as possible.
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