Vanunu biography

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 , a self-described former Mossad officer or government translator named 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 Israelis or to the Israeli Embassy in London by Sunday Mirror journalists. The Israeli government decided to capture Vanunu, but determined to avoid harming its good relationship with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and not wanting risk confrontation with British intelligence, determined Vanunu should be persuaded to leave British territory under his own volition.

Through constant surveillance, the Mossad found that Vanunu had become lonely and eager for female companionship. Masquerading as an American tourist called "Cindy", Israeli Mossad agent Cheryl Bentov befriended Vanunu, and on 30 September persuaded him to fly to Rome with her on a holiday. This relation has been perceived as a classic honey trap operation whereby an intelligence agent employs seduction to gain the target's trust—a practice which has been officially sanctioned in Israel.

The Noga , disguised as a merchant ship, was fitted with electronic surveillance equipment and satellite communications gear in its superstructure, and was primarily used to intercept communications traffic in Arab ports. As the ship was heading from Antalya in Turkey back to Haifa, the captain was instructed to change course for Italy and anchor off the coast in an encrypted message.

The Noga arrived off the Italian port city of La Spezia and anchored in international waters, just outside Italian waters. Once in Rome, the Vanunu and Bentov took a taxi to an apartment in the old quarter of the city, where three waiting Mossad operatives overpowered Vanunu and injected him with a paralyzing drug. Later that night, a white van hired by the Israeli embassy arrived, and Vanunu was carried to it on a stretcher.

The ambulance drove out of Rome, down the coast to a pre-arranged point. Vanunu was transferred to a waiting speedboat, which then rendezvoused with the waiting Noga anchored off the coast. Vanunu was brought onto the Noga in total secrecy. The crew were told to assemble in the ship's common room and lock the door as Vanunu and the Mossad agents were taken aboard.

The ship then set sail for Israel. During the journey, Vanunu was kept in a cabin, with Mossad agents taking turns guarding him. None of the Noga' s crew were allowed to look at the prisoner. On 6 October, the ship anchored off the coast of Israel between Tel Aviv and Haifa, where it was met by a smaller vessel which Vanunu was transferred to.

The vessel then took Vanunu to Israel. On 5 October, the Sunday Times published the information it had revealed, and estimated that Israel had produced more than nuclear warheads. Vanunu was put on trial in Israel on charges of treason and espionage. Vanunu was represented by Avigdor Feldman, an Israeli civil and human rights lawyer. He was not permitted contact with the media but he wrote the details of his abduction 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.

On 27 February , the court sentenced him to eighteen years of 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 The death penalty in Israel is restricted to special circumstances.

In , former Mossad director Shabtai Shavit told Reuters that the option of extrajudicial execution was considered in , but rejected because "Jews don't do that to other Jews. Vanunu served his eighteen-year sentence at Shikma Prison in Ashkelon. He spent more than eleven years of his sentence in solitary confinement, 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, Vanunu took part in small acts of rebellion, such as refusing psychiatric treatment, refusing to talk with the guards, reading only English-language newspapers, and watching only BBC television. In , Vanunu appealed to the Supreme Court for his Israeli citizenship to be revoked. On 23 December , Vanunu wrote: "Freedom of speech and Freedom of movement.

On 30 October Vanunu wrote: "I had a court hearing on 26 October We appealed all the restrictions. I even spoke to the Judges. They gave to the police 90 days to end their investigation for the last arrest, after that they will decide. On 24 February , Vanunu tweeted his latest news regarding Israel's Supreme Court which has ordered the Prosecution to respond no later than 21 April regarding Vanunu's eight Supreme Court appeal to end all restrictions and allow him to leave Israel.

On 30 January , Vanunu wrote on Facebook that the three Supreme Court judges were to rule "in a few weeks" regarding his latest appeal seeking to end all restrictions against him so that he can leave Israel. And it could be good or nothing, so I am used to all this for 31 years, Freedom Must come. On 2 June , Vanunu reported at his Facebook Wall, "that for the 16th year, after 18 years behind bars" Israel renewed the restrictions against Vanunu "not to meet foreigners, not leave the country".

On 3 December , Israel's Supreme Court dismissed Vanunu's latest petition seeking to end the restraining orders against "his freedom" and "privacy" citing "a concern about the probability of closeness to the certainty that if the restrictions imposed on Vanunu are removed, he will act to publish this [relevant confidential] information. I will continue to post every month".

As of July [update] , Vanunu posted on Twitter that all restrictions had been renewed for another year and that he would only be writing his next post from freedom. Yossi Melman, an Israeli journalist, wrote in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz "Vanunu's harassment by the Israeli government is unprecedented and represents a distortion of every accepted legal norm.

At this parole hearing, Vanunu's lawyer Avigdor Feldman maintained that his client had no more secrets and should be freed. The prosecution argued that the imminent war with Iraq would preclude his release. After the hearing, Feldman said, "The prosecutor said that if Vanunu were released, the Americans would probably leave Iraq and go after Israel and Israel's nuclear weapons - which I found extremely ridiculous.

Following his release in , Vanunu appeared in Israeli courts on numerous occasions on charges of having violated the terms of his release. 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 police and his belongings were confiscated. Yehiel Horev, the strictest of all the security chiefs in Israel, especially in regard to the protection of institutions such as the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center and the Israel Institute for Biological Research , is apprehensive that if Vanunu goes abroad, he will continue to be a nuisance by stimulating the public debate over Israel's nuclear policy and the nuclear weapons he says Israel possesses.

This is the secret that it is claimed has not yet been told in the affair: the story of the security fiasco that made it possible for Vanunu to do what he did, and the story of subsequent attempts to cover-up, whitewash and protect senior figures in the defense establishment, who were bent on divesting themselves of responsibility for the failure.

On 11 November , Vanunu was arrested by the International Investigations Unit of the Israel Police at around 9 am 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 raided the walled compound of St. George's Cathedral, removing papers and a computer from Vanunu's room.

After a few hours' detention, Vanunu was put under house arrest, which was to last seven days. On 24 December , in a vehicle marked as belonging to the foreign press, Vanunu was arrested 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 in Bethlehem.

After posting bail of 50, NIS , he was released into five-day house arrest. On 26 January , the BBC reported that its Jerusalem deputy bureau chief, Simon Wilson, was banned from Israel after he refused to submit interview material made with Vanunu to Israeli censors. Wilson was allowed to return to Israel on 12 March after signing an apology letter acknowledging that he defied the law.

On 17 March , 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 18 November that year, Vanunu was arrested at the al-Ram checkpoint north of Jerusalem as he was returning by bus from the West Bank. The Israeli authorities claimed Vanunu's travel ban includes visits to the Palestinian territories.

Vanunu was informed on 13 April that the Israeli government has continued his house arrest in Jerusalem and renewed all the restrictions against him, for the fourth time and third year of detention in east Jerusalem. On 30 April, Vanunu was convicted of violating the order barring foreign contacts and traveling outside Jerusalem. In July, Vanunu was sentenced to a further six months imprisonment for speaking to foreigners and traveling to Bethlehem.

On 7 January , the day before his appeal against the above sentence was to begin, Vanunu was re-sentenced to six months of community service. In April , Vanunu learned that Israel had renewed the restrictions against him again. On 9 April , unclassified documents revealed that the Norwegian Bondevik's Second Cabinet 19 October — 17 October denied Vanunu asylum in as a supportive gesture to Israel.

On 13 May that year, Vanunu wrote that although three judges had attempted to convince the Government Lawyer to offer community service in East Jerusalem, it had been denied. Vanunu's appeal against his six-month jail sentence was set to resume on 8 July [ ]. On 15 May , the Norwegian Lawyer's Petition called upon the Norwegian government to urgently implement a three-point action plan within the framework of international and Norwegian law, to grant Vanunu asylum and permission to work and stay in Norway.

On 23 September , the Jerusalem District Court announced: "In light of Vanunu's ailing health and the absence of claims that his actions put the country's security in jeopardy, we believe his sentence should be reduced. In October, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond voiced support for him and stated his shared opposition to the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

On 26 November, it was reported that "Vanunu's Supreme Court appeal fighting a three-month jail sentence [reduced from six] for speaking to foreigners — who happened to be media — in , was scheduled to be heard in the New Year. They renewed the restrictions to not speak to foreigners until November. The appeal [against three months in jail for speaking to foreign media in ] was scheduled for January, then 6 May and 18 June.

Now I am waiting for a new court date. On 6 July, Vanunu's "attorney Avigdor Feldman Vanunu was arrested by Jerusalem Police on 28 December in a hotel, following an alleged meeting with his girlfriend. On 1 January , it was revealed that Vanunu has known his Norwegian girlfriend, Kristin Joachimsen, a scholar and an associate professor of biblical studies, for two years.

Vanunu published a video message to the media on 7 January regarding his most recent arrest and Israel's "impotent" nuclear ambiguity. On 14 April that year, Vanunu reported that the restrictions denying him the right to leave Israel were renewed for another year. On 11 May , the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that Vanunu would "serve a three-month jail sentence handed to him by Jerusalem District Court and not community service" which would begin 23 May Vanunu had been sentenced to community service but stated his refusal to perform community service in west Jerusalem, claiming that he would be in danger of being assaulted by a member of the Israeli public.

He offered to instead do community service in east Jerusalem. The Court refused Vanunu's offer. On 24 May , Vanunu began serving his three-month prison sentence. On 14 July , Vanunu appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court to instruct Interior Minister Eli Yishai to revoke his Israeli citizenship, claiming that "the Israeli street" and media were treating him belligerently, and that he could "no longer find his place in Israeli society", and that despite his release from prison, "the State of Israel continues to penalise him by imposing various restrictions on his person and travels".

Vanunu's appeal noted an amendment to the Citizenship Act which allowed the Interior Minister to revoke his citizenship even if he did not hold another one and claimed that revocation of his Israeli citizenship would allow him to seek citizenship or permanent residency in a European country. On 31 August , Vanunu wrote: "The court hearing about the restrictions, not to speak to foreigners, not to leave Israel will be on Oct' 3 [it is possible the date can be changed].

About canceling my Israel citizenship, we are waiting to hear from the Interior minister or we will have one more court hearing. Vanunu deactivated his Facebook and Twitter accounts on 1 May , following an announcement that the Israeli government was monitoring those accounts. Vanunu said, "I want them to revoke my citizenship so that I can begin my life.

Vanunu biography

Vanunu was arrested on 23 April , but it was not reported until six days later, when his attorney Michael Sfard posted on his Facebook page, "Vanunu was in a bookstore near the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem where he met two tourists and to the amazement of the store's customers, it was raided by seven border police On 25 September , Vanunu reported "Sep.

They are still holding all these thing. They gave the police 90 days to end their investigation for the last arrest, after that they will decide. On 8 May , Vanunu was indicted for "a single meeting with two foreigners that occurred three years ago", for moving into a different apartment at the same address, and for an interview, he gave to Danny Kushmaro at Channel 2, which had passed the censor.

On 4 July that year, Vanunu's trial for allegedly sharing classified information in an interview with Israel's Channel 2 television channel, for moving into a different apartment without informing the police, and for meeting with two foreign nationals three years earlier began. On 26 January , Vanunu tweeted that on 30 January he would return to Supreme Court petitioning for the end of all restrictions, so that he could leave Israel.

Israel's Supreme Court denied Vanunu's latest appeal to end all restrictions and allow him to leave Israel on 6 April that year. On 10 July, the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court gave Vanunu a two-month suspended jail sentence unless "he commits another similar violation [speaking to foreigners] in the next three years. Vanunu returned to Israel's Supreme Court on 6 November seeking to end the restrictions holding him in Israel so that he could be reunited with his wife in Norway.

On 2 June , Vanunu tweeted, "after 32 years of all the Israel Nuclear secrets had gone to all the world they still claim I am a security risk" and on 3 July, he tweeted "They renew all the restrictions for another year after 14 years and 18 years in prison. Vanunu has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize every year since Vanunu wrote the poem "I'm Your Spy" early during the first eleven and a half years he was held in strict isolation.

Vanunu received the Right Livelihood Award in I am asking the committee to remove my name from the list for this year's list of nominations. I cannot be part of a list of laureates that includes Shimon Peres , the President of Israel. He is the man who was behind all the Israeli atomic policy. Peres established and developed the atomic weapon program in Dimona in Israel.

Peres was the man who ordered the kidnapping of me in Italy Rome, Sept. Until now he continues to oppose my freedom and release, in spite of my serving full sentence of 18 years. For all these reasons I don't want to be nominated and will not accept this nomination. I say No to any nomination as long as I am not free, that is, as long as I am still forced to be in Israel.

What I want is freedom and only freedom. In December , he was elected by the students of the University of Glasgow to serve for three years as Rector. The Herald newspaper launched a campaign for his release. On 21 September , the Teach Peace Foundation recognised Mordechai Vanunu for his courageous actions to halt the development and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by the Israeli government.

Kroto and Jack Steinberger. The request was refused and the 12 December Berlin medal ceremony was restyled as a protest event in support of Vanunu and nuclear disarmament. On this occasion, a musical composition, The Dove , [ ] was dedicated to Vanunu and given its premiere performance. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history.

Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item. Israeli peace activist and whistleblower born See also Yosef Vanunu. Marrakesh , Morocco. Kristin Joachimsen [ no ]. Early and educational life [ edit ]. Contact About Privacy. Tomoji Tanabe. Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty. Matt Coleman. Christopher Langan.

He was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces in October , serving for three years as a senior sergeant in the engineering corps. After his military service, Vanunu enrolled in the preparatory division of the University of Tel Aviv. However, he failed his exams and was forced to discontinue his studies. In , he applied and qualified as a technical worker at the nuclear research center in Dimona.

He was assigned as a dispatcher in workshop 2. In , Vanunu enrolled in the evening division of Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba, majoring in philosophy and geography. In , he discovered his name on a termination list and smuggled a camera into the Dimona facility, taking 57 photographs of classified sections.