Reserved Judgement for Vanunu petition

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Tuesday July 13, 2004 14:57 by Justin Morahan - Peace People

Barred from parts of hearing

Mordechai Vanunu, who served close on 18 years in prison in Israel for having revealed secrets about the Dimona reactor, has had severe restrictions placed on his freedom of action since his release last April. An Israeli Civil Rights group has made a petiton to the Supreme Court and on 11 July the case was heard. There was the equivalent of a reserved judgement, so we await the outcome.

3 June 2004: Petition filed by ACRI (Association of Civil Rights of Israel) to Israel's Supreme Court: To cancel the severe restrictions imposed on Mordechai Vanunu after his release from an eighteen year sentence in prison last April. Legal team: Attorneys Dan Yakir and Oded Feller of ACRI. The hearing was fixed for 28 June 2004.
28 June 2004:Supreme Court Justices Barak, Maza and Chesin adjourned the case to 11 July.
3 July 2004: Nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei of the IAEA arrived in Israel to start his three day visit during which he toured Israel's atomic facilities - except the reactor in Dimona, the "Vanunu reactor".
11 July 2004: As he arrived at the courthouse, eight anti-Vanunu activists were protesting outside, calling him a traitor. They were dispersed by security forces. Inside, there were three sessions held and one final "new" court.
The first session was open to the public and lasted 12 minutes. Vanunu said that he hoped "for justice based on democracy, human rights and freedom of speech".
The second session was closed and lasted almost two and a half hours.
Vanunu and his lawyers were not allowed to attend. A lawyer explained that this was common enough practice in Israeli courts, also for Palestinian defendants - although Vanunu in this case is not a defendant. Mordechai noticed that a former Dimona colleague was in court during this session.
The third session was open and lasted 15 minutes. Vanunu and only one of his lawyers were allowed in. The State here argued that a notebook he had written in prison in 1991 showed how precise his recollection was, also that he would be able to reproduce such information at any time.
One judge said that, according to the newspapers, the knowledge he has is dated and that he could no longer pose a threat. The State Attorney replied that Israel would not consider restrictions if Vanunu did not have secrets and was not a danger to the State.
At 1 p.m. there was a "new" open court with pleadings and summaries. The Prsident of the Court, Justice Barak, declared that the Court had heard the parties and that a decision would be announced soon.
The equivalent of a reserved judgement in Ireland