Press Release
April 14, 2004

The restrictions that the Israeli government intends to impose on Prisoner of Conscience Dr. Mordechai Vanunu, a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize, after his release, as have appeared in the Israeli press, constitute an intolerable, unjustified and arbitrary violation of basic human rights, including freedom of movement and freedom of expression. The restrictions and prohibitions which the Sharon-Lapid government intends to impose characterize tyrannical regimes, and it is not surprising that the order was signed by the Homeland Defense Commander, based on the Draconian State of Emergency Regulations, the legacy of the British Mandate. We wish to remind the public, that former Prime Minister Menachem Begin and two former Justice Ministers, Yakov Shimshon Shapira and Dov Yosef, denounced the regulations as being Nazi in nature.

Dr. Mordechai Vanunu, who was kidnapped nearly 18 years ago in a terrorist act of the Israeli government, should not have spent one day behind bars. He fulfilled his civil duty when he revealed, by means of the free press, information about the manufacture of nuclear weapons in Israel, information that was and is of importance to every citizen. By doing so, Vanunu exercised the democratic principle of the public's right to know.

However, once Vanunu completes the entire prison term to which he was sentenced, his rights as a free citizen must be respected. The restrictions which the Israeli government intends to impose on Vanunu are a continuation of the mistreatment that began at the moment he was kidnapped.

We strongly denounce and protest the continued harassment of Dr. Mordechai Vanunu by the Israeli Authorities and call on all people of conscience, in Israel and around the world, to join the struggle to lift all of these restrictions.

We hope, that judges who are committed to human rights are to be found within the Israeli justice establishment, who will declare these restrictions to be illegal, and who will enable the soon-to-be released Prisoner of Conscience to live as a free person wherever he chooses.

On April 20-21 Mordechai Vanunu's supporters will gather outside Shikma Prison in Ashkelon. Details about these events will be publicized close to the dates.

The Israeli Committee for Mordechai Vanunu and for a Middle East Free of Atomic, Biological and Chemical Weapons
PO Box 7323, Jerusalem
Tel. 02-6254530, 051-368236

The International Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu
freevanunu@mindspring.com
www.vanunu.com, www.vanunu.co.uk

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For details about Free Vanunu vigils and activities in Israel, Call: 02-6254530 or 051-368236 or email: legalese@netvision.net.il

To learn more about the courageous Vaanunu and the ways that YOU can assist him and his case, please consult http://www.serve.com/vanunu/

List of international vigils on day of Vanunu release (April 21): http://www.nonviolence.org/vanunu/http://www.vanunu.freeserve.co.uk/

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Vanunu to face numerous restrictions upon release

Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent

Shin Bet security service officials will visit Mordechai Vanunu at his cell in Ashkelon's Shekma Prison this week to brief the former nuclear plant technician about restrictions he will face after his release from jail next Wednesday.

The restrictions are based on clauses 108-109 of the State of Emergency statute passed in 1945 under the British Mandate.

Under the regulations, Vanunu will be allowed to choose his town of residence, but will be forbidden to leave city limits unless he reports his intentions to the local police force.

In addition, Vanunu will not be allowed to approach any border terminal, including Ben-Gurion International Airport, the country's ports, or borders with the Palestinian Authority, as stipulated in a list of crossing points to be given to him by security officials. Also, Vanunu will not be allowed to be in contact with foreigners - whether in face-to-face meetings or by telephone, fax, or email - including foreign citizens residing in Israel.

Vanunu also will not be allowed to approach foreign embassies and divulge details to anyone regarding the Dimona plant where he worked or the circumstances of his being kidnapped and transported to Israel.

Vanunu will be informed that he will not have passport privileges, and therefore, cannot leave the country.

Security officials will tell Vanunu that these restrictions will be in effect for six months. During that time, his behavior will be reviewed: if he does not try to circumvent the prohibitions, the restrictions might be lifted. The officials will warn Vanunu that should he try to violate the restrictions, he could be placed on trial.

Vanunu will be given a few days to appeal the restrictions.

After having cut off relations several months ago with his long-time attorney, Avigdor Feldman, Vanunu has asked the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) to represent his legal interests. Vanunu recently informed relatives who are allowed to visit him in prison that he does not want ACRI officials to handle his affairs until he is released from prison.

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[Translated from Yediot Ahronot, April 15, 2004]

Harsh Restrictions to be Imposed on Vanunu After His Release Next Week
Vanunu's Relatives Enraged: We Won't be Able to Meet Him

The prisoner told his brother yesterday, that he won't be allowed to meet foreign nationals, go near air or sea ports and foreign embassies, possess a cellular phone or surf the internet. His adoptive parents: This is an absurd decision. Vanunu will appeal to the High Court of Justice against the restrictions immediately after his release.

Tsadok Yechezkeli and Anat Tal-Shir

"I can't believe what they've decided to do to my life after I've spent 18 years in prison," Mordechai Vanunu told his brother yesterday, during their last meeting in Ashkelon Prison before his release next Wednesday. "Up to the last minute I still thought that they would let me go away from here."

Vanunu was referring to the document that he had received shortly earlier from security agents, which contained a full description of the restrictions that will be imposed on him during the first months of his life as a "free" person, mainly, a prohibition on leaving the country and an absolute prohibition on meeting with foreign nationals.

Vanunu told his brother yesterday, that he will be prohibited from leaving the country for a period of 12 months (after which the prohibition will be reconsidered), from meeting with foreign nationals and media persons from abroad. In addition, he will be prohibited from going near air and sea ports and foreign embassies, from possessing a cellular phone and from surfing the internet. Vanunu will even have to inform the police 24 hours in advance if he decides to go from one city to another.

The sense of shock that Vanunu gave out yesterday also reflected the harsh atmosphere among his relatives and his many supporters, some of whom have already arrived in Israel to welcome him at the moment of his release after 18 years, of which he spent 11 years in solitary confinement. The list of restrictions - and mainly the absolute prohibition on meeting with foreign nationals - was received with amazement and rage, since it effectively erases from Vanunu's life all contact with his many supporters around the world, some of whom are the people closest to him.

"This is a destructive decision for Mordechai," Vanunu's adoptive mother, Mary Eoloff, said yesterday with undisguised anger. She and her husband Nicholas arrived from the U.S. yesterday. The couple, who adopted Vanunu several years ago, dreamed of leaving the country together with him and thereby realizing his dream of emigrating to the U.S. and opening a new chapter in his life. Yesterday they found it hard to digest the news, that Vanunu would not be able to leave the country and would even be forced to accept life under harsh restrictions.

"The terrible thing is, that the State is denying basic human rights to a person who has already completed his sentence," Mary Eoloff stated angrily in an interview with Yediot Ahronot. "They are assuming in advance, that he will use his freedom of speech to speak out against Israel. He has the right of expression just like any citizen, and that cannot be taken away from him." Eoloff, who lives with her husband in Minnesota, called the prohibition on meeting with foreign nationals that was imposed on Vanunu "absurd". "We are his legal parents and we intend to see him. Tomorrow (Thursday) we are going to meet him in prison. So is it conceivable, that we will be forbidden to be with him when he is freed? It is possible, that we are not included in that prohibition, but we don't know anything any more."

The prohibition on meeting with foreign nationals has put pressure on Vanunu's many supporters. A delegation of about 80 of his supporters, including British Members of Parliament, Nobel Peace Price Laureates and cinema stars, will be landing in Israel over the next few days. Many of them have kept in touch with Vanunu by means of letters. Now they fear, that if they meet with him, they will cause him to violate the restrictions, thereby giving the security forces a pretext to re-arrest him.

"This is a terrible scandal," said Peter Hounam, the Sunday Times reporter who exposed the Vanunu affair and who arrived in Israel to meet him after 18 years. "We don't want to cause him any problems. If I reach the conclusion that I am putting him at risk - I'll give up on the meeting. But this is an outrage. Imagine, I won't even be able to shake the man's hand."

Vanunu has been given the right to appeal against the restrictions by next Sunday, and he intends to do so. He has empowered the Association for Civil Rights in Israel to petition the High Court of Justice against the restrictions on his behalf, and the petition will be made to the Court immediately after his release next week.

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[Two boxes also appeared on the same page - one about Susannah York and the other about the Anglican Church in Israel offering Mordechai a job as a history teacher at one of the church's schools. Rayna Moss]