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"Just
like they destroyed the Iraqi reactor, I want them to destroy the
Israeli reactor" said Vanunu (AFP)
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OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, April 20 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) –
Insisting he still has more secrets to tell, the Israeli government
justified Tuesday, April 20, the unprecedented restrictions that will
be placed on Mordechai Vanunu, its nuclear whistleblower, who will be
released Wednesday, April 21, after 18 years in prison.
"Vanunu
has revealed state secrets about the Dimona nuclear plant. He still
possesses state secrets including some which he has not
revealed," the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement,
reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"The
revelations of these state secrets could seriously damage the security
of the state," the statement added.
The
Ministry confirmed that under a set of restrictions agreed with the
Interior Ministry, Vanunu would not be allowed to leave the country,
approach any port or airport or make contact with foreigners without
prior authorization after his release.
The
statement said Vanunu, who is currently in custody at Shikma prison in
the southern city of Ashkelon, had "announced his intention to
reveal these secrets".
The
Israeli government does not comment on the nuclear capability Vanunu
helped to develop and later renounced.
But
international experts agree that Israel possesses the world's sixth
largest nuclear arsenal, with some 200 warheads, compared with
Britain's 185, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Vanunu,
however, has denied that he remains any threat to national security
and said he had no more nuclear secrets to reveal.
"First
of all, I've been on the inside for 20 years - everything has changed
already," he told interrogators from Israel's security services
in footage which was broadcast on Israeli television late Monday,
April 19.
"Second,
what I went through is a process the entire world knows about ... It's
clear that everything has been published. Science has progressed.
"Technology
has taken giant steps forward, so what I saw appears to me to be very
old. I don't think the Americans are interested, or the Europeans,
" Vanunu said.
Israeli
Interior Minister Avraham Poraz ruled the travel ban was essential to
prevent him from "damaging state security", his ministry
said in a statement Monday.
But
Poraz dropped proposals to completely bar Vanunu from speaking to
foreigners, including his American-born adoptive parents, or
approaching any foreign embassy.
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File
photo of Israel’s Dimona nuclear power plant (AFP)
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Vanunu's
lawyers from the Association for Human Rights in Israel (ACRI) had
appealed over the weekend to the Israeli government to abandon the
restrictions in their entirety.
Senior
ACRI attorney Oded Feller said in the appeal to Poraz and the head of
the Home Front Command, Major General Yaior Naveh, "the
prohibitions and restrictions ... are unreasonable, and constitute a
severe and unjustified infringement of the freedom of the released
prisoner."
"They
will also prevent him from living a normal life in even the most basic
sense when he completes, on Wednesday, the full term of his harsh and
lengthy prison sentence," said Feller.
According
to British daily the Independent, more than 100 well wishers,
including Bruce Kent, the vice-president of the Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament, actress Susannah York, and Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn and
Colin Breed, will be on hand to greet Vanunu when he leaves jail
Wednesday.
In
a separately-related development, Amnesty International urged the
Israeli authorities not to impose any restrictions or conditions on
Vanunu.
"Vanunu
should be allowed to exercise his rights to freedom of movement,
association and expression in Israel and should be allowed to leave
the country if he wishes, "said Amnesty International.
"His
release is long overdue and Israel must not continue to violate his
fundamental human rights once he is released from prison. "
Amnesty
International said Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Israel has ratified and is obliged
to uphold, stipulates that: "everyone lawfully within the
territory of a State shall, within that territory, have the right to
liberty of movement and freedom to choose his residence" and that
"everyone shall be free to leave any country, including his
own".
"The
rights to freedom of expression and association are guaranteed by
Articles 19 and 21 of the same Covenant, "said the international
watchdog.
Neither
Spy, Nor Traitor
Speaking
to agents from Israel's internal security service, Vanunu, 49,
said: "I was neither a spy nor a traitor."
The
meeting was recorded and then broadcast on prime-time Israeli
television, prompting his family to accuse the Israeli authorities of
trying to smear him on the eve of his release.
His
brother Meir said it was "scandalous" that the security
services had allowed the tape of the interrogation to be broadcast,
reported the Telegraph.
The
remarks made by Vanunu in his interview appeared to breach every one
of Israel's taboos, the paper added.
"There
shouldn't be a Jewish state. There should be a Palestinian
state," he told interrogators.
Vanunu
added that the world "perceived me as a hero" while only
Israelis failed to appreciate his actions.
"I
acted in a way that was honest for myself and also for the
world."
As
for the future of the Dimona plant, Vanunu called on the world to
treat it in the same way as Iraq's nuclear weapons program.
"I
want them to destroy the reactor. More than that, just like they
destroyed the Iraqi reactor, I want them to destroy the Israeli
reactor."
Vanunu,
who worked as a technician at Israel’s Dimona nuclear facility from
1976 to 1985, was sent to jail 18 years ago for exposing secrets
relating to Israel’s nuclear capabilities.
In
an interview with the Sunday Times in 1986, he revealed evidence that
Israel possessed and produced nuclear weapons.
Israel,
which to date has refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT), has never confirmed or denied the information.
Vanunu
maintained that he acted out of conscience to expose Israel’s policy
of building nuclear weapons with no debate or authorization from its
own citizens.
On
September 30, 1986, Vanunu was kidnapped in Rome by agents of Mossad,
Israel’s secret services.
He
was drugged and secretly shipped to Israel.
After
a secret trial, he was sentenced to 18 years on charges of treason and
espionage.
His
repeated requests for early parole were consistently rejected by the
Israeli authorities.
