Thu 3 May 2007
Vanunu convicted of violating order barring foreign contacts
Posted by k under Civil LibertiesNo Comments
By Nir Hasson Haaretz Correspondent and Agencies 4/30/07
Israel’s nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu was convicted Monday by the Jerusalem Magistrates Court of violating a military order prohibiting him from talking to foreign nationals. He was also convicted of attempting to leave Jerusalem in the direction of Bethlehem.
The court accepted most of the indictment’s clauses, save those relating to Vanunu’s Internet correspondence with foreign nationals, the evidence for which was rejected by the court as inadmissible.
It appears that most of Vanunu’s conversations with foreign citizens were phone conversations, and that that foreigners that he met with were all members of the media.
The court ruled that military injunction on Vanunu was necessary because the defendant “holds within his memory” secret information, the publication of which could jeopardize Israel’s security interests.
Vanunu said following his conviction that Israel is still under the British Mandate, and that the law the he was convicted of violating is a Mandate law.
“Perhaps I should turn to the Queen or Tony Blair for justice,” he said, adding that the verdict is proof that Israel has nuclear arms.
Attorney Michael Strauss, who represented Vanunu along with attorney Avigdor Feldman, said that “this verdict convicts a person for being in contact with other people – regardless of the content of their conversation – simply for the contact, and this is an intolerable situation in a liberal democracy. This has never happened in the past.”
Full article: available here.