On 2 July, former Israeli nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu was sentenced to one year in prison (6 months suspended) for fourteen violations of a ban on talking to foreigners - actually, foreign reporters.
This ban was one of several imposed on Mordechai on his release in 2004 from a full 18-year prison sentence for telling the world about Israel's nuclear weapons. The Israeli justice ministry justified the sentence in terms of protecting national security. Mordechai insists that he wants to pursue a peaceful anti-nuclear campaign: “All I want is to be free, to leave the country.”
Mordechai has not been imprisoned yet, and has until 9 September to decide whether to appeal.
Topics: Prison, Nuclear weapons