Israeli nuclear whistleblower asks Nobel panel to disregard his nomination for peace prize
By APWednesday, February 24, 2010
Israeli Nobel nominee asks panel to disregard him
OSLO — A Nobel Peace Prize official says Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu wants jurors to disregard his nomination for the 2010 award.
Permanent secretary Geir Lundestad says Vanunu sent a letter saying he doesn’t want an award previously given to Israeli President Shimon Peres. Lundestad says the letter refers to Peres — who shared the 1994 prize when he was foreign minister — as the father of Israel’s secret nuclear weapons program.
Vanunu served an 18-year prison term in Israel for leaking details of the program in 1986.
Peres shared the Nobel with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israel’s then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin for efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Lundestad says Vanunu made a similar request last year.
