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HomeBlogJuly 2010 July 30, 2010: Response to Israel Ministry Justice: Vanunu
July 30, 2010: Response to Israel Ministry Justice: Vanunu
July 30, 2010: Response to Israel Ministry of Justice vis a' vis Human Rights of Mordechai Vanunu UPDATED July 31, 2010 @3 PM
My Open Letter Response to State of
Israel Ministry of Justice The Human Rights and Foreign Relations Department:
Dear Sir/Madam,
Ref: 952
Thank you for your letter dated July 21, 2010, that I received in my gmail on July 29.
I would now like to address all "relevant authorities" and the State of
Israel Ministry of Justice The Human Rights and Foreign Relations Department regarding points 1-13:
On April 30, 2007, the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court,
convicted Vanunu on 14 [out of 21] counts of violating a court order
prohibiting him from speaking to foreign journalists in 2004. Vanunu was also
convicted for traveling the four miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem when he
hoped to attend Christmas Eve mass at the Church of the Nativity, his first
Christmas after being released from 18 years in jail [most of it in solitary]
on April 21, 2004.
On July 2, 2007, Israel sentenced Vanunu to six more months in jail for
speaking to foreign media in 2004.
On September 23, 2008, the Jerusalem District Court reduced Vanunu’s six-month
jail sentence for speaking with foreign media in 2004, to three months,
"In light of his ailing health and the absence of claims that his actions
put the country’s security in jeopardy."
After appealing that sentence, the Israeli Supreme Court returned Vanunu to
jail on May 23, 2010, after they refused his counter-offer to do three-months
of community service in Arab east Jerusalem, the only community he has known
since 21 April 2004.
The Court insisted Vanunu must serve in west Jerusalem,
which is 99% Jewish-populated, but Vanunu feared attack there by angry
Israelis, most of whom consider him a traitor, and thus his three month sentence in solitary began on 23 May 2010.
The
restrictions that have subjected Vanunu to 24/7 surveillance [his movements,
phone calls and emails] for the last six years come from the Emergency Defense
Regulations, which were implemented by Britain against Palestinians and Jews
after World War II.
Attorney Yaccov Shapiro, who later became Israel's Minister Of Justice,
described the Emergency Defense Regulations as "unparalleled in any
civilized country: there were no such laws in Nazi Germany."
Israel also kidnapped Vanunu in 1986, but Article 9 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states: "No one shall he subjected
to arbitrary arrest or detention", including abduction of a person by
agents of one state to another state.
Vanunu was charged with and convicted of treason and espionage.
Section 99 of the Israeli Penal Code, treason is defined as "an act
calculated to assist (an enemy) in time of war...delivering information with
the intention that it fall into the hands of the enemy."
Section 113 defines aggravated espionage as "deliver(ing) any secret
information without being authorized to do so and with intent to impair the
security of the state" and a sub-clause provides for a penalty of seven
years for the unauthorized collection, preparation, recording or holding of
secret information; if this is done with intent to impair the security of the
state and then, the penalty is increased to 15 years.
On November
24th, 2006 Vanunu wrote:
"My lawyer succeeded to reveal a few very important facts: This General of
the Army also was not allowed to see all the secrets that he is required to
protect by these restrictions that they claim I know them. So, he gave orders
of restrictions without knowing what he is protecting or that he is also
following orders blindly, and Mossad Sheen Bet using its authority for just
punishing me. He testified that it is not a crime for me to talk with
foreigners in general anywhere. He testified that I can speak freely to any
Israeli citizens about anything; it is not his concern what I am saying to
them. These Israelis can give this information to any foreigners. It was
difficult for the Judge to understand why this dichotomy exits between
foreigners and Israelis. It means that it is not about secrecy but about
something else."
In 2004, Yossi Melman wrote for Haaretz:
"This is the secret that hasn't yet been told in the affair: the story of
the security fiasco that made it possible for Vanunu to do what he did, and the
story of the subsequent attempts at cover-up, whitewashing and protection of
senior figures in the defense establishment, who were bent on divesting
themselves of responsibility for the failure. The 18-year prison term to which
Vanunu was sentenced is almost exactly the same period as that in which Yehiel
Horev has served as chief of internal security in the defense establishment
[who has been] involved in the affair as deputy chief of security at the
Defense Ministry, and also after Vanunu's abduction and arrest, as a member of
an investigative commission.
"Shortly after taking office as chief of security at the Defense Ministry,
Horev began to take punitive measures to hobble Vanunu. He is responsible for
the harsh conditions in which Vanunu was held, which included years in solitary
confinement, and the sharp limitations on the number of visitors he could
have…[and has fought] a rearguard battle to prevent Vanunu from leaving Israel
and to place him under supervision and restrictions that will be tantamount to
house arrest. Horev has always been considered the strictest of all the
security chiefs in Israel, especially in regard to the protection of
institutions such as the Dimona facility and the Biological Institute. He is
apprehensive that if Vanunu goes abroad, he will continue to be a nuisance by
stimulating the public debate over Israel's nuclear policy and the nuclear
weapons he says Israel possesses…all the hyperactivity being displayed by Horev
and those who support his approach is intended only to divert attention from
what has not yet been revealed: the security blunders and their
cover-ups."
On July 29, 2010, Mordechai Vanunu’s American parents, Nick and Mary Eoloff wrote, "Please advise Mr.
Radzyner that Mordechai Vanunu has never been told what 'secret information' he
holds that 'constitutes a relevant threat to the security of the State of
Israel' after the passage of 20 years. At court hearings those matters are
dictated to the court in its chamber by the Mossad without Mordechai being
present. But, of course, that is how the ‘only democracy’ in the Middle East
operates…"
On February 22, 2006,in a Jerusalem court it
was revealed that Israel had asked Microsoft to hand over all the details of
Vanunu's Hotmail account before a court order had been obtained, while eluding
that Vanunu was being investigated for espionage.
Vanunu wrote:
"Microsoft obeyed the orders and
gave them all the details…three months before I was arrested and my computers
were confiscated. It is strange to ask Microsoft to give this information
before obtaining the court order to listen to my private conversations. It
means they wanted to go through my emails in secret, or maybe, with the help of
the secret services, the Shaback, Mossad.
"The State came to the court with two
special secret Government orders; Hisaion [documents or information that are
deemed confidential by the government and kept from the court, the defendant,
and lawyers.] This allows the prosecution to keep documents related to my court
hearing secret. One was from the Minister for Interior Security and one from
the Minister of Defense.
"The policeman did not have any answers and said that he brought
all the evidence to the court. When Sfard asked him again about any material
related to the espionage [charge] Peterburg had no answers.
"Sfard proved that
the police had misled the judges who gave the orders to arrest me: to search my
room, to go through my email, to confiscate my computers and [that they] misled
Microsoft to believe they are helping in a case of espionage."
Israel
claims Vanunu received a fair trial; the facts prove other wise and the
point remains that on 18 June 2010, Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty
International's Middle East Programme announced:
"Mordechai
Vanunu should not be in prison at all, let alone be held in solitary
confinement in a unit intended for violent criminals. 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. 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. His
re-imprisonment is both harsh and unjustified. 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."
Others in agreement include 25 members of the UK Parliament
Early Day Motion: 571
MORDECHAI VANUNU
20.07.2010
Corbyn, Jeremy
25
signatures
Abbott, Diane
Anderson, David
Bottomley, Peter
Campbell, Ronnie
Caton, Martin
Clwyd, Ann
Davidson, Ian
Durkan, Mark
Edwards, Jonathan
Flynn, Paul
George, Andrew
Hancock, Mike
Hemming, John
Hughes, Simon
Illsley, Eric
Jackson, Glenda
McDonnell, John
Meale, Alan
Riordan, Linda
Ritchie, Margaret
Sharma, Virendra
Skinner, Dennis
Vaz, Keith
Williams, Stephen
That this House notes Amnesty International's recognition of
Mordechai Vanunu as a prisoner of conscience and condemns without
reserve that he is once again being held in isolation in a small cell
with no windows, in a special unit for dangerous prisoners in Ayalon
prison, one of the most notorious in Israel, for a civil offence;
further notes that these intolerable conditions are a harsh Israeli
response to a dispute over where Vanunu should do community service, and
are a real threat to his health; and calls on the Government to
recognise Vanunu as a prisoner of conscience who should be transferred
to a less severe prison without delay, and insist to the Israeli
authorities that they stop this vindictive harassment of Vanunu and
immediately show more respect for international human rights legislation
by allowing Vanunu the right to freedom of expression and association
and the opportunity to leave Israel, if he wishes, to live in the
country of his choice.
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