A-Infos (en) Parole Help for Ailing Vanunu

[Tom Burghardt <tburghardt@igc.apc.org>]

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                 PAROLE HOPE FOR AILING VANUNU
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     THE SUNDAY TIMES: FOREIGN NEWS
     SUNDAY, 1 FEBRUARY 1998
     http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/
     By Andy Goldberg and Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv
 
     LAWYERS acting for Mordechai Vanunu, who has spent nearly 12
years in solitary confinement for revealing Israel's nuclear
secrets in The Sunday Times, are to seek his release in April.
 
     Their hopes were raised last week by signs of a softening in
the government's attitude towards Vanunu, who was drawn into a
"honey trap" and kidnapped by Mossad agents in 1986 after
disclosing details of the country's nuclear arsenal.
 
     A senior official indicated that the defence ministry would
not object to his removal from a solitary cell, five yards
square, in the top-security Ashkelon prison, where his mental
health is said to have deteriorated recently. One of his lawyers
said he expected a "significant improvement" in his conditions
this week.
 
     Vanunu, 46, will be eligible for parole on April 21, after
two-thirds of his 18-year sentence for treason. "He has a right
to parole like any other prisoner," said Ronit Robinson, another
lawyer. "Now that the head of security in the defence ministry
has decided he is no security risk and there is no reason to keep
him in solitary any more, how can they object to parole?"
 
     Vanunu is thought to have served longer in solitary
confinement than any other prisoner in the world. In the first
years of his confinement his light was kept permanently on and he
was denied all human contact, even with guards. More recently, on
a visit to court, he was forced to wear a special hood and jaw
brace to prevent him from speaking.
 
     Until now the Israeli authorities have claimed such
restrictions were necessary to stop him telling anybody about the
Dimona nuclear reactor, where he worked.
 
     His supporters have said the authorities were motivated more
by revenge. Vanunu's family says he has become increasingly
paranoid. "He believes everything in the world is a conspiracy
against him," said his brother, Asher.
 
     Defence sources suggest the willingness to allow him out of
solitary may be related to negotiations with the United States
for the eventual release of Jonathan Pollard, serving life for
spying for Israel. The Israeli government has been pressing the
Americans to free him on humanitarian grounds. It is thought to
have been told that release is out of the question while Vanunu
is held in inhumane conditions.
 
     Copyright 1998 The Times Newspapers Limited.
 
                              * * *
 
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        to subscribe e-mail Tom Burghardt <tburghardt@igc.org>
 
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