The Peace PeopleIn 1986 Mordechai Vanunu, who had worked as a technician at Israel's secretive nuclear reactor in Dimona for 10 years, provided the Sunday Times of London with photographs and information about Israel's nuclear weapons program. Abducted by Israeli secret agents, he was brought to Israel, tried in camera and convicted of treason and espionage. Sentenced to 18 years in prison, he spent the first 11 and a half of them in solitary confinement.
Vanunu finished his sentence in April 2004, but although out of prison he is not free. The State of Israel has imposed stringent restrictions on his freedom, including a prohibition on speaking to non-Israeli media, and he is banned from leaving the country.
We call on the government of Israel to lift these restrictions and allow Mr. Vanunu to leave. Twenty years after his last day at Dimona, he cannot possibly represent a security risk to Israel. Preventing Vanunu from travelling does nothing for Israel's security while it tarnishes its reputation.
- JOHN HUME (1998)
- DAVID TRIMBLE (1998)
- JODY WILLIAMS - INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO BAN LANDMINES (1997)
- BISHOP CARLOS FILIPE XIMENES BELO (1996)
- JOSE RAMOS-HORTA (1996)
- PROF. JOSEPH ROTBLAT - PUGWASH CONFERENCE SCIENCE AND WORLD AFFAIRS (1995)
- RIGOBERTA MENCHU TUM (1992)
- BISHOP DESMOND TUTU (1984)
- ADOLFO PEREZ ESQUIVEL (1980)
- BETTY WILLIAMS (1976)
- MAIREAD CORRIGAN MAGUIRE (1976)
- MARY ELLEN McNISH, AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE (1947)
- CORA WEISS, INTERNATIONAL PEACE BUREAU (1910)
JULY, 2005.