[News] Freed Vanunu: Inspect Israeli nukes

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Freed Vanunu: Inspect Israeli nukes
by Nurah Tape
Wednesday 21 April 2004 9:35 AM GMT

92f032.jpgReleased Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu has 
called for the country's Dimona nuclear reactor to be opened for world 
inspection.

Vanunu, who walked out of the Shikma prison in the Israeli town of Ashkelon 
on Wednesday, where he was imprisoned for 18 years, said Western leaders 
such as US President George Bush, Tony Blair, Gerhard Schroeder and 
Vladimir Putin should "speak up" on Israel's nuclear secrets.

"Israel doesn't need nuclear weapons, especially now that all of the Middle 
East is free from nuclear arms. My message today to all the world is open 
the Dimona reactor for inspections," he said.

Vanunu was jailed in 1986, reportedly for treason, after disclosing 
information to Britain's Sunday Times newspaper which led analysts to 
conclude Israel had produced more than 100 nuclear warheads.

The 49-year-old former nuclear technician told a crowd of journalists and 
supporters at the prison's gates that he was "kidnapped by Israeli spies in 
an apartment in Italy in September 1986, drugged and then kept on a yacht 
for seven days, chained to a bed", before being brought to Israel, where he 
was imprisoned in October the same year.

Vanunu, who was "proud and happy at what he had done", said he had "no more 
secrets". "I am very glad that I succeeded to do what I did. I don't have 
any secrets... since the article was published there are no more secrets".

"I am a symbol that a free spirit can survive. Nobody can destroy the will 
of the man who wants to be free. You cannot destroy the human spirit"

Mordechai Vanunu,
former Israeli nuclear technician
He said Israel's Mossad spy agency and Shabak (domestic intelligence), also 
known as the Shin Bet security services, "did not succeed in breaking me & 
to make me crazy".

"I suffered cruel, barbaric treatment by Israeli spies Mossad, Shabak 
agents. The guards inside the prison were only obeying orders from Shabak, 
Mossad", Vanunu said.

He added: "I suffered for 18 years in solitary confinement because I am a 
Christian. If I was Jewish I would not have had this suffering."

"I am a symbol that a free spirit can survive. Nobody can destroy the will 
of the man who wants to be free. You cannot destroy the human spirit."

Restrictions

Questioned on his statements made to security officers in a videotape aired 
by Israeli media, Vanunu reiterated that "I don't think we need a Jewish 
state" and added "the Jewish state needs to solve its problems with the 
Palestinians".

Israel has slapped severe restrictions upon Vanunu's release, including 
that he is not allowed to leave Israel for a year, approach border exits or 
talk to foreign nationals without prior approval for at least six months.

Vanunu's release was delayed after he apparently refused to give details of 
his place of residence once he is set free.

Israel has kept the nuclear reactor in Dimona - where Vanunu worked for 
nine years until he was fired in 1985 - closed to international inspection.

Vanunu, who said he wished to start a new life in the United States, 
thanked "all my friends for supporting me". He said they are "heroes".

Aljazeera
By Nurah Tape

You can find this article at:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1B78F9BE-9CAA-498F-BC79-31906AF60ADC.htm 


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