Haaretz
Nisan 5, 5765
Nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai
Vanunu went on trial yesterday, accused of violating terms of his release
from prison by talking to foreign reporters and trying to visit the West
Bank.
Vanunu, 50, was released last April 21 after serving an
18-year term for spilling secrets to a British newspaper about the Dimona
nuclear reactor. The revelations of the former technician confirmed to
experts that Israel had nuclear weapons.
"It is shameful to Israeli
democracy to bring me back to court after all those years in prison,"
Vanunu told Reuters outside the Jerusalem court. "This case is proving to
the world that Israel is not a real democracy. As a human being, I have
the right to express my political views and my ideas. I have no more
secrets."
Under the terms of Vanunu's release, he was forbidden
from speaking to foreign media and had to remain inside Israel. If
convicted of violating the bans, he could be jailed for up to two
years.
Vanunu did not enter any plea in court, as his lawyer
challenged the validity of the case. The next hearing is due on May 19
before presiding Judge Yoel Tzur, who will rule on the preliminary
motions.
The bans are due to be reviewed this month. The Justice
Ministry said in a statement that an extension was being considered, but
that Vanunu would be allowed to plead his case and a final decision had
yet to be made.
"Let me leave, let me go," Vanunu told reporters.
"Enough."
An indictment filed in a Jerusalem court last month
charged him with 21 counts of violating the restrictions.
The
indictment listed interviews in the U.S., British, Australian and French
media, and quoted Vanunu as saying Israel had assembled hydrogen and
neutron bombs at Dimona and was annually producing 40 kilograms of
plutonium at the facility, enough to make 10 atomic bombs.
Speaking
briefly in Hebrew to reporters outside the court, Vanunu accused Yehiel
Horev, the head of the Defense Ministry's security division, of confirming
the information on Israel's nuclear capacity by prosecuting
him.
Vanunu also handed out copies of a letter informing him that
the IDF's Home Front Command was considering extending the orders
restricting his movements, which are due to expire on April 19.
On
November 11, Police arrested Vanunu - a convert to Christianity - at the
St. George's Cathedral church in Jerusalem where he has lived since he
left jail, and brought him to a court in Petah Tikva on suspicion of
having spilled more state secrets to the foreign press.
After a
full day of interrogation, he was released under house arrest, and has
since remained under constant surveillance.
The indictment also
charged him with violating a ban on travel overseas or to the Palestinian
territories. Vanunu was briefly detained by Israeli police after he tried
to visit Bethlehem last Christmas.
Vanunu's lawyers, Avigdor
Feldman and Michael Sfard, argued in court that the injunction prevents
him from meeting with non-Israelis, but that the state had not presented
any legal basis to support the claim that the people Vanunu met with are,
indeed, foreigners.
The lawyers also claimed that their client had
not violated the injunction against travel outside of Israel, since he was
apprehended at a roadblock south of Jerusalem. He was not, they stressed,
apprehended at a recognized border between Israel and another sovereign
state that necessitates the use of a passport.