In a 18 June 2010 report Amnesty International accused the Israeli authorities of subjecting jailed nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment by holding him in solitary confinement.
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The
56-year-old, who spent 18 years in prison for revealing details of the
country's nuclear arsenal to a UK newspaper in 1986, was sent back to
jail for three months on 23 May on charges of contact with a foreign
national, and almost immediately placed in solitary confinement.
Amnesty
International has called for his immediate and unconditional release.
"Mordechai
Vanunu should not be in prison at all, let alone be held in solitary
confinement in a unit intended for violent criminals," said Malcolm
Smart, Director of Amnesty International's Middle East Programme.
"He
suffered immensely when he was held in solitary confinement for 11
years after his imprisonment in 1986 and to return him to such
conditions now is nothing less than cruel, inhuman or degrading."
For years,
Vanunu has been portrayed by some Israeli media and politicians as a
traitor and an enemy of the state for disclosing Israeli efforts to
develop nuclear weapons, and he says he has received death threats.
"Mordechai
Vanunu is a prisoner of conscience. The prison authorities might claim
that he has been put in isolation to protect him from the risk of attack
by other inmates, but if the Israeli government is really concerned for
his safety it should release him without delay," said Malcolm Smart.
"His re-imprisonment is both harsh and unjustified."
Vanunu, a
former technician at Israel's nuclear plant near the southern town of
Dimona, revealed details of the country's nuclear arsenal to UK
newspaper The Sunday Times.
Subsequently, he was abducted by
Mossad agents in Italy on 30 September 1986 and secretly taken to
Israel, where he was tried and sentenced to a prison term of 18 years,
the first 11 years of which he spent in solitary confinement.
Since
his release in 2004, the Israeli authorities have subjected Vanunu to
police supervision under the terms of a draconian military order, which
is renewed every six months.
According to the order, he is
banned from communicating with foreigners, including journalists. He
cannot leave the country and is forbidden from approaching foreign
embassies. He must also inform the authorities if he wishes to change
his address.
"The restrictions on Mordechai Vanunu arbitrarily
limit his rights to freedom of movement, expression and association and
are therefore in breach of international law. They should be lifted and
he should be allowed to start his life again as a free man," said
Malcolm Smart.
Mordechai Vanunu's brother, Meir Vanunu, told
Amnesty International on 17 June: "It is very traumatic for Mordechai to
be put again in solitary confinement and subjected to harassment. These
are the same conditions he was kept under previously for 18 years and
there is no justification for it after 24 years of suffering.
"We
fear for the impact this will have on his health. Now is the time for
Mordechai's true freedom he should be allowed to travel and leave
Israel. He should never have been put in this situation in the first
place."
The harsh conditions of the dangerous criminals unit in
Ayalon Prison mean Vanunu can only leave his cell for one hour every day
to walk in the prison courtyard.
He cannot currently make
telephone calls from the prison unless he submits information about the
person he wishes to call to the prison authorities something he
refuses to do on principle. As a result, he has had no contact with
friends or family since the beginning of his current imprisonment.
