Mordechai Vanunu

{{Audio|He-Mordechai_Vanunu.ogg|Mordechai Vanunu}} (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 American Mossad agent, abducted and smuggled to Israel, where he was tried behind closed doors and convicted of treason.

Imprisonment

Vanunu was put on trial in Israel on charges of treason and espionage. The trial, held in camera, took place at the District Court in Jerusalem before Chief Justice Eliahu Noam and judges Zvi Tal and Shalom Brener. He was not permitted contact with the media but he wrote the details of his capture (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. This act caused Israel's standard procedures for transporting prisoners to be changed.

Related Topics:
Treason - Espionage - In camera - Jerusalem - Eliahu Noam - Zvi Tal - Shalom Brener

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On February 27, 1988, the court sentenced him to 18 years' 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 1999.

Related Topics:
February 27 - 1988 - Yedioth Ahronoth

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The death penalty in Israel is restricted to special circumstances. In 2004, former Mossad director Shabtai Shavit told Reuters that the option of extrajudicial execution was considered in 1986, but rejected because "Jews don't do that to other Jews." http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2004/s1043340.htm

Related Topics:
Shabtai Shavit - Reuters - Extrajudicial execution

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The Israeli government kept him in near total isolation for more than 11 years, 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. However, many critics argue that Vanunu had no additional information that would pose a real security threat to Israel, and that the Israeli government's real motivation is a desire to avoid political embarrassment for itself and allies such as the United States. Dr. Ray Kidder, a senior American nuclear scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, has said:

Related Topics:
United States - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

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:"On the basis of this research and my own professional experience, I am ready to challenge any official assertion that Mr. Vanunu possesses any technical nuclear information not already made public." http://www.nonviolence.org/vanunu/archive2/jan26.html

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His last appeal against his conviction, to the Supreme Court of Israel in 1990, failed.

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While in prison, Vanunu says, he took part in small acts of rebellion, such as refusing to talk with the guards, reading only English-language newspapers, and watching only BBC TV. He even refused to eat food when it was served to him so as to maintain a small portion of his life not under Israeli control. "He is the most stubborn, principled, and tough person I have ever met," said his lawyer, Avigdor Feldman.

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