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It was reported in Haaretz
that Israel’s
nuclear whistle blower Mordechai Vanunu was convicted Monday by the Jerusalem
Magistrates Court of violating a military order prohibiting him from talking to
foreign nationals. He was also convicted of attempting to leave Jerusalem in the direction of Bethlehem.
The court accepted most of the indictment's clauses, save
those relating to Vanunu's Internet correspondence with foreign nationals, the
evidence for which was rejected by the court as inadmissible.
It appears that most of Vanunu's conversations with
foreign citizens were phone conversations, and that that foreigners that he met
with were all members of the media. 
The court ruled that military injunction on Vanunu was
necessary because the defendant "holds within his memory" secret
information, the publication of which could jeopardize Israel's
security interests.
Vanunu said following his conviction that Israel is still
under the British Mandate, and that the law the he was convicted of violating
is a Mandate law.
"Perhaps I should turn to the Queen or Tony Blair for
justice," he said, adding that the verdict is proof that Israel has
nuclear arms.
Attorney Michael Strauss, who represented Vanunu along with
attorney Avigdor Feldman, said that "this verdict convicts a person for
being in contact with other people - regardless of the content of their
conversation - simply for the contact, and this is an intolerable situation in
a liberal democracy. This has never happened in the past."
Attorney Dan Eldad of the state prosecution said that the order
was approved by nine Supreme Court judges on three separate occasions. "In
the situation that arose there was no way to avoid the injunction, and our
objective was to clarify that it must be upheld."
Thw sentencing hearing will begin in two weeks. According to
estimates, Vanunu will receive a suspended prison sentence.
The sentence could hurt Vanunu's struggle to leave Israel in the
face of a travel ban that the government, citing security concerns, has renewed
annually.
Vanunu was sentenced to 18 years behind bars in 1986 after
giving an unauthorized interview to a British newspaper about his work at Israel's Dimona
reactor. The disclosures all but blew away the secrecy around an assumed
Israeli atomic arsenal.
Since his release Vanunu has campaigned for Israel to be
disarmed while denying Israeli officials' charges that he has more secrets that
he could divulge if allowed to emigrate.
"All that I want is to be free, to leave the
country," Vanunu, 52, told reporters at the Jerusalem court.
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