Nuclear whistleblower spends first free night in church

A bitter and unrepentant Mordechai Vanunu spent his first night of freedom in a Jerusalem church after serving an 18-year prison term for disclosing Israel’s nuclear secrets.

Vanunu flashed victory signs and briefly climbed on the gate of Shikma Prison in Ashkelon yesterday to wave to dozens of cheering anti-nuclear campaigners from abroad, and then left in a convoy for St George, an Anglican Church in Jerusalem. In the 1980s, Vanunu converted from Judaism to Christianity.

Vanunu was a low-level technician at Israel’s nuclear reactor in Dimona before he gave descriptions and photos of the plant to the Sunday Times in 1986, lifting the cloak from Israel’s secret nuclear programme. Using his information, experts said Israel had the world’s sixth-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons.

A Mossad agent lured Vanunu to Rome, where he was snatched, brought to Israel by boat and tried for treason and espionage.

His revelations and imprisonment made him a hero to international peace activists, and dozens of supporters, including actress Susannah York and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire, greeted him upon his release.

Many Israelis view Vanunu as a traitor and groups of angry protesters gathered at the prison to curse at him.

“To all those who are calling me traitor, I am saying I am proud, I am proud and happy to do what I did,” Vanunu said in heavily-accented English. He refused to respond to questions in Hebrew in protest at restrictions Israel placed on him, including a ban on speaking to foreigners.

During his impromptu news conference in the prison courtyard, Vanunu, wearing a white check shirt and a tie, implored Israel to end its nuclear programme.

“Israel don’t need nuclear weapons especially now that all the Middle East is free from nuclear weapons,” he said. “My message today to all the world is, open the Dimona reactor for inspection.”

Because Israel is not party to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency has no power to look into its nuclear programme. The United Nations agency, however, is seeking dialogue with Israel, and Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei has called for talks on establishing a weapons of mass destruction ”free zone” in the Middle East.

Vanunu, who was held in solitary confinement for nearly 12 years, accused Israel of mistreating him because he was a Christian. He accused the Mossad spy agency and the Shin Bet security services of “cruel, barbaric treatment” and of trying to drive him insane.

“You didn’t succeed to break me, you didn’t succeed to make me crazy,” he said. “I am a symbol of the will of freedom that you cannot break the human spirit.”

Vanunu said he hoped to move to the United States and study and teach history. However, the Israeli restrictions prevent him from travelling abroad for at least a year.

Followed by a convoy of journalists in cars, motorcycles and even a helicopter, Vanunu travelled from the prison to the Anglican church in Jerusalem 45 miles away, where he was greeted by clergy and a tearful Peter Hounam, the journalist who wrote the original Sunday Times article.

Riah Abu El-Assal, the Anglican bishop of Jerusalem, escorted Vanunu into the church to pray and receive communion alongside clergy from England, the United States and Australia.

“He is an Anglican Christian and expressed his desire to offer thanks to God for his release from prison as his first act as a free man,” El-Assal said.

“The Eucharist was offered in thanksgiving for the resurrection of Jesus Christ and in prayers for Mordechai Vanunu, his family and friends, in the hopes that he can live a normal life from now on.”

Israeli officials say Vanunu still possesses state secrets.

“He’s hell-bent to do as much harm as he can,” justice minister Tommy Lapid said. “We will keep an eye on him, we will watch him … We want to know where he is and we want to know to whom he may or may not divulge state secrets.”

Defence ministry spokeswoman Rachel Niedak-Ashkenazi said security services confiscated several of Vanunu’s tapes and notebooks in prison.

In Hebrew and English, Vanunu wrote a detailed account of places, processes and areas of the nuclear reactor, she said, adding that he had an “excellent memory”.

“To us, this showed an intention and ability to make future use of it,” she said.

Vanunu said the papers were personal and had been written in 1991. He said he had no more secrets to disclose.

“All the secrets were published,” he said. “I am now ready to start my life.”