Israeli nuclear whistleblower goes back to jail for violating parole conditions

Israeli nuclear whistleblower back in jail

JERUSALEM — An Israeli nuclear whistleblower who spent 18 years in prison went back to jail Sunday for violating the terms of his parole.

Mordechai Vanunu has been barred from leaving the country or meeting with foreigners since he was released from prison in 2004.

In December, Israeli authorities arrested Vanunu, accusing him of having contact with a number of foreigners, including journalists, and a Norwegian woman Vanunu said is his girlfriend.

Israel’s prison service said he would serve three months.

“Shame on you Israel…for putting me in prison after 24 years of speaking the truth,” Vanunu said outside the courthouse Sunday. He criticized what he called “stupid” Israeli institutions, and Arab and international bodies he said should have protected him.

“Shame on you all the world media … for not protecting freedom of speech,” he said.

Vanunu was a low-level technician at an Israeli nuclear plant who leaked details and pictures of the clandestine operation to the Sunday Times of London in 1986. Foreign experts who reviewed the material concluded that Israel had a formidable nuclear arsenal.

Israeli intelligence agents kidnapped him in Rome and brought him back to Israel to stand trial. Vanunu served 11 years of his 18-year sentence in solitary confinement.

Israel has never acknowledged nor denied having nuclear weapons.