Vanunu and Aung San Suu Kyi - Maguire Provides a Link
international |
rights, freedoms and repression |
news report
Saturday January 01, 2005 14:50
by Justin Morahan - Peace People
Peace Prize passed on by Nobel Laureate
Summary: Mairead Corrigan has passed on her Amsterdam peace prize to the two captives
The same Peace prize awaits both Mordechai Vanunu an Aung San Suu Kyi as each of them steps alternatively to freedom.
The prize was awarded to Mairead Maguire on 27 December 2004 in Amsterdam by the Amsterdam-based ChildRight organization for her work for children and peace throughout the world.
But Maguire who had recently visited the Israeli whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu in Israel asked that the prize be kept instead for his release and presented to him. When Aung San Suu Kyi achieves freedom in Burma, Vanunu will pass on the prize to her.
The Nobel Laureate has requested that meanwhile the prize will be held on display in Amsterdam with the stories of Vanunu and Aung San Suu Kyi displayed underneath, and that children will become involved, perhaps by the ringing of a bell, so that when Vanunu comes to receive the prize they will be able to thank him for the work he has done for world peace.
Vanunu is at present restricted from leaving Israel where he has already served an 18 year sentence and Aung San Suu Kyi, herself a Nobel Peace Laureate, has been under house arrest for 10 years in Burma.
Speaking at a recent press Conference in Jerusalem, attended by Mairead Maguire, Vanunu expressed concern for Ms Aung San Suu Kyi.
Mrs Maguire said that each day at noon, Vanunu rings the bell in St. George's Cathedral, in east Jerusalem, to remind the World that he is still in captivity and not allowed to leave Israel to go to his friends in Britain, Ireland, USA, and so many other places around the world.
She proposed that people around the World ring a bell each day at noon, "in solidarity with our friends, Mordechai and Suu".
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Comments (3 of 3)
Jump To Comment: 3 2 1PRESS RELEASE
At a recent Press Conference in Jerusalem, Mordechai Vanunu announced that he will be holding a Conference to discuss nuclear weapons and all weapons of mass destruction. He has since announced that the Conference will take place in Jerusalem on the dates April 19th to April 20th, 2005.
Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire who was present at the Press conference at which Vanunu made the announcement, expressed her immediate support and has asked for similar support from all Peace Laureates and believers in a non-violent world.
Already support has been flooding in from Britain, the USA , Ireland etc where Vanunu has many admirers. Present indications suggest that the numbers attending may be even greater than those who travelled to Israel to witness his release from Ashkelon prison after he had served an eighteen year sentence there - twelve years of these in solitary confinement.
Another Nobel Peace Laureate, Professor Joseph Rotblat, has pledged to attend the Conference in Jerusalem. The dates are significant as April 21st will be the first anniversary of Vanunu's release. Last year, international observers and supporters flocked to Ashkelon to witness his release and vigilled outside the prison on April 20th and 21st. Many of these will undoubtedly return in answer to his call on April 19th.
The Israeli Government are to review the restrictions they have placed on his freedom of movement and speech, also on April 21st.
Hi Justin as I asked ya yesterday I was wondering if you could provide a bit more background/context to your posts...
Mairead Maguire
After the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland took the lives of three of her sister’s children, Mairead Corrigan, along with Betty Williams and Ciaran McKeown, pulled together a broad movement of ordinary people, both Catholic and Protestant, dedicated to ending the conflict and building a peaceful society. They called themselves Peace People
Mairead Corrigan Maguire receives Nobel Peace Prize 1976
ORG OF NOBEL PEACE LAUREATES
Squashing Human Rights for State Security – Israel’s Flawed Policy
At his parole hearing, prior to the Iraq war, the prosecution refused because, “if Vanunu was released, the Americans would probably leave Iraq and … go after Israel’s nuclear weapons.” This contention is laughable but it carried. More than the courts, it is the secret service, in the shape of Yehiyel Horev, who heads the nuclear and military secrets branch, that wants to make an example out of Vanunu. Leaders such as Shimon Perez (who appears often in the program, and is considered the father of Israel’s nuclear effort) have supported such actions. Horev has succeeded, and others have generally shied away from revealing damaging secrets.
From BBC profile of Perez
For a man widely viewed as a dove in the context of Israeli politics, Mr Peres was hawkish on Israel's nuclear programme.
He has gone on record as admitting that Israel's nuclear facility at Dimona - the building of which he oversaw - was established as a deterrent, although Israel maintains an official policy of what is known as "ambiguity".
PRESS RELEASE
NOBEL PEACE LAUREATE VISITS VANUNU AND PEREZ IN ISRAEL
Maguire calls on Israeli government to let Vanunu go
On 19th December, in East Jerusalem, Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate, attended a Press Conference with Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli Nuclear whistleblower, whom she again nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She also called on the Israeli Government to let him go.
She later visited her fellow Nobel Laureate Shimon Perez in Tel Aviv, and requested that his Government release Vanunu. She also asked Mr Perez to sign a recent statement by 22 Peace Laureates, calling for the strengthening of the NNPT. Mr Perez accepted the Nobel Summit statement and said he would get back to Mrs Maguire.