Vanunu faces further jail time
After spending 18 years in jail, Israeli nuclear whistle blower, Mordechai Vanunu is back in court, facing the prospect of further imprisonment. His crime? Speaking to the foreign media about Israel’s nuclear weapons program. In 1986 he gave an exclusive interview to the British newspaper, The Sunday times, revealing to the world the extent of his home country’s nuclear program. After being kidnapped, he was returned to Israel, put on trial in secret and then sentenced to 18 years imprisonment. While Mordechai was finally release in 2004, he was placed on strict conditions that forbid him from speaking to foreign media and attempt to leave the state of Israel. The Wire spoke with Mordechai Vanunu and Daniel Ellsberg, who released the pentagon papers during the Nixon administration. The Israeli government declined to comment for this story.