Vanunu Indicted: Indymedia Ireland Cited On Charge Sheet

international | rights, freedoms and repression | feature

Sunday April 03, 2005 21:19

by eeekkkk

"I am proud of what I did and I will continue to speak against all kinds of nuclear weapons."

Mordechai Vanunu has recently been charged with 22 violations of the restriction orders placed on him when he left prison in Israel in April last year. Most relate to his contact with foreign individuals, primarily journalists, including Indymedia Ireland's interview with Vanunu from September 2004.

These charges are not only an attack on Mordechai's human rights but also on the rights of journalists, on freedom of speech, and on the Israeli public's right to know what their government is doing, especially in a country that calls itself a democracy. If Mordechai is found guilty of these offences he could be imprisoned for another three years.

In a recent press release sent out by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), in which they called for all charges against Vanunu to be withdrawn, Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary said, "Israel is creating a new crime - of talking to journalists. It is shocking betrayal of democratic principles in what is a vindictive campaign of bullying and intimidation against a man who has served his time."

The violations are listed in a court document, which you can access here. Indymedia Ireland is named in that document at section #20.

Mordechai remains defiant in his right to speak of the need to rid the world of nuclear weapons. As he said to the world's media when he left prison last April: "I am proud of what I did and I will continue to speak against all kinds of nuclear weapons."

Related Links
US Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu
UK Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu
Archive Of Indymedia Ireland's Coverage of Vanunu's Story

(Large parts of this story are adopted from an e-mail recieved by Indymedia Ireland which was sent by members of the UK Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu and for a Nuclear-Free Middle East and the US Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu)