Nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu (pictured above) spent 18 years in prison, most of it in solitary confinement, for telling a British newspaper in 1986 about Israel's surreptitiously developed nuclear weapons program.A Jerusalem court convicted Vanunu last week of violating parole restrictions by talking to the media and other human beings outside his native country, Israel.
The case is under appeal and Vanunu is free on appeal, but could face an additional six months in prison.
An AP report reads that emerging from an Israeli courtroom, Vanunu said the verdict proves "that Israel is not a democracy," and asked to be allowed to leave the country.
"I want to leave this country," he said. "I want to be free."
Vanunu is working for a non-nuclear world, non-violence, democracy and civil liberties, as Israel remains adamant in its position that Vanunu not be allowed to leave the country for his crime of alerting the world of Israel's development of nuclear weapons.
American citizens have a long history of supporting Vanunu. Mordechai Vanunu can be reached at: vmjc1954@gmail.com.
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