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Israel Nuke Whistleblower Defiant as He Leaves Jail

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Israel Nuke Whistleblower Defiant as He Leaves Jail
1 hour, 40 minutes ago Add World - Reuters to My Yahoo!

By Dan Williams

ASHKELON, Israel (Reuters) - Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu emerged defiant after 18 years in prison Wednesday, saying he was proud of revealing secrets that exposed the Jewish state as an atomic power.

Vanunu flashed victory signs and waved as he walked through the gates of Ashkelon's Shikma Prison, where supporters cheered him as a "peace hero" and counter-demonstrators booed him with chants of "Shut up, atomic spy."

"I am proud and happy to do what I did," the gray-haired, former nuclear technician said standing before a bank of television cameras flanked by two of his brothers.

Vanunu's 1986 revelations to a British newspaper about the top-secret Dimona reactor led security analysts to conclude Israel had amassed an arsenal of 100 to 200 nuclear warheads, one of the world's largest stockpiles.

Vanunu, 49, complained bitterly of "cruel and barbaric treatment" at the hands of Israel's security services but insisted he had no more state secrets to divulge after serving his full term on a conviction for treason and espionage.

Fearing he could leak more classified information, Israel put him under close surveillance and slapped restrictions on his movements, including a one-year ban on travel abroad.

Justice Minister Yosef Lapid threatened to send him back to jail if he violated the conditions imposed on him.

Vanunu's lawyer, Dan Yakir, said he would appeal the restrictions to Israel's Supreme Court "in the coming days."

Vanunu's release cast a spotlight on Israel's undeclared nuclear program, which experts say has advanced despite a sharp reduction in strategic threats to the Jewish state since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq (news - web sites) a year ago.

Longtime foe Libya is scrapping weapons of mass destruction and Iran has agreed to U.N. inspections of its nuclear plants.

VANUNU PROTESTS AGAINST RESTRICTIONS

Vanunu, a Moroccan-born immigrant, refused to answer questions in Hebrew during an impromptu news conference broadcast live on state television, saying he was protesting against Israel's limits on his contacts with foreigners.

Supporters fear for his safety in Israel, where most people despise him as a traitor and see the country's undeclared nuclear capability as protection against hostile neighbors and an insurance policy against a repeat of the Nazi Holocaust.

"Israel doesn't need nuclear arms, especially now that all the Middle East is free of nuclear arms," Vanunu said. "My message...to all the world is open the Dimona reactor for inspections."

In his first stop, Vanunu, a Christian convert, prayed at the Anglican Saint George's Cathedral in Jerusalem where supporters threw him a party.

He also met there with an American couple who adopted him while he was in prison. Most of his own family has disowned him.

Vanunu's disclosures to Britain's Sunday Times about the Dimona reactor, deep in the Negev desert, parted the veil on Israel's long-standing policy of "strategic ambiguity" -- never admitting or denying it possessed atomic weapons.

A former intelligence chief said Israel even considered killing Vanunu. Instead, the Mossad spy agency mounted a classic "honey trap," sending a blonde agent to lure him from London to Rome, where he was abducted and bundled home.

He was convicted in a closed-door trial and sentenced to 18 years in prison, much of it spent in solitary confinement.

Vanunu said security agents tried to rob him of his sanity during his long imprisonment. "I said to (them)...You didn't succeed to break me," he said.

Lapid denied Vanunu had been mistreated, saying other countries like the United States had a history of executing spies. "This is the treatment he deserved even if the radical left turns him into a hero," he said.

Vanunu said he wanted to move to the United States and start a new life. He has many admirers overseas, where peace activists have regularly nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize.

For now, Vanunu may spend the night at the grounds of the Anglican Church, his lawyer said. Media reports have said that he planned to live in a high-security, luxury apartment complex in the Jaffa section of Tel Aviv.

Among the restrictions Vanunu faces is a ban on approaching ports and borders. His phone will be tapped and his Internet correspondence monitored, security sources said.

British actress Susannah York, among the anti-nuclear campaigners who came to Israel to celebrate Vanunu's release, said: "It's a gross violation of human rights."

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