Israel to release nuclear whistleblower

Actress Susannah York and anti-nuclear activists from around the world gathered today to welcome freed whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu, as Israel slapped tough restrictions on his movements, fearing he has more secrets to spill.

Vanunu was convicted of treason and espionage and jailed for 18 years after giving information and pictures to the Sunday Times in 1986, describing Israel’s top secret nuclear reactor, where he worked. He was expected to be released from Ashkelon’s Shikma prison at about 9am Irish time.

The material Vanunu handed over led experts to conclude that Israel had the world’s sixth largest nuclear weapons arsenal. Vanunu was a reactor technician at the nuclear plant in the desert town of Dimona.

Israel has never admitted possessing nuclear weapons, but does not issue denials either – following instead a policy of ”ambiguity”, stating only that Israel would not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East.

Anti-nuclear activists rallied outside the prison, praising Vanunu as a hero for revealing Israel’s weapons secrets.

Several counter-demonstrators burned Vanunu posters nearby but were quickly dispersed by police. Motorists slowed down and shouted insults at Vanunu supporters, including Ms York and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire from Northern Ireland.

“You feel, ‘Here is a hero for our times, a man who cannot be silenced,”’ Ms York said. “I just say, ‘Welcome back to life, Mordechai’.”

Other British anti-nuclear activists, including playwright Harold Pinter and actress Julie Christie, sent messages to coincide with Vanunu’s impending release.

However, Vanunu is considered a traitor by many Israelis, and his attorney expressed concern for his safety after his release.

Vanunu will not be completely free after he leaves the prison. He will have to comply with draconian travel restrictions and other constraints, or risk being arrested again.

He has said he has nothing more to reveal, but Shai Nitzan of the state attorney’s office, who headed the legal team that decided on the restrictions, said experts concluded that “Vanunu was exposed to additional state secrets that he has not yet made public, and that poses a security threat”.

Vanunu, who had hoped to leave the country, will not be allowed to travel abroad for at least a year, speak to foreigners or approach Israeli ports or borders.

He also is barred from discussing his work at Israel’s nuclear reactor. Vanunu was given a map of Israel marking the areas off-limits to him, the defence ministry said.

Defending the restrictions imposed on Vanunu, Israeli opposition leader Shimon Peres, who spearheaded Israel’s nuclear programme in the 1950s and 60s, said “Vanunu violated norms and betrayed his country”.

“This is justice,” Peres, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, told British army Radio.

Yoav Loeff, of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which is representing Vanunu, said he feared for Vanunu’s safety after his release, adding that he was unaware of any special safety measures planned. Police did not return a message seeking comment.

Vanunu will live in a luxury apartment complex in Jaffa, an old seaport and today part of Tel Aviv.

Jaffa has both Arab and Jewish residents, and Vanunu’s apartment will be near several churches. Vanunu, who was raised as an Orthodox Jew, converted to Christianity in the mid-1980s.

The Andromeda Hill complex has 170 apartments, and tenants include both wealthy foreigners and local residents. It was unclear who is paying for Vanunu’s apartment.