Mordechai Vanunu
| Mordechai Vanunu | |
|---|---|
Vanunu in 2009
|
|
| Born |
October 14, 1954 Marrakesh, French Morocco |
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Other names | John Crossman |
| Known for | Nuclear whistleblower |
| Spouse(s) | Kristin Joachimsen (m. 2015) |
Mordechai Vanunu (Hebrew: מרדכי ואנונו; born 14 October 1954), also known as John Crossman, is an Israeli former nuclear technician and peace activist who, citing his opposition to weapons of mass destruction, revealed details of Israel's nuclear weapons program to the British press in 1986. He was subsequently lured to Italy by a Mossad agent, where he was drugged and abducted by Israeli intelligence agents. He was transported to Israel and ultimately convicted in a trial that was held behind closed doors.
Vanunu spent 18 years in prison, including more than 11 in solitary confinement. Released from prison in 2004, he became subject to a broad array of restrictions on his speech and movement. Since then he has been arrested several times for violations of those restrictions, including giving various interviews to foreign journalists and attempting to leave Israel. He says he suffered "cruel and barbaric treatment" at the hands of Israeli authorities while imprisoned, and suggests that his treatment would have been different if he had not converted to Christianity from Judaism.
In 2007, Vanunu was sentenced to six months in prison for violating terms of his parole. The sentence was considered unusual even by the prosecution who expected a suspended sentence. In response, Amnesty International issued a press release on 2 July 2007, stating that "The organisation considers Mordechai Vanunu to be a prisoner of conscience and calls for his immediate and unconditional release." In May 2010, Vanunu was arrested and sentenced to three months in jail on a charge that he met foreigners in violation of conditions of his 2004 release from jail.
Vanunu has been characterized internationally as a whistleblower and by Israel as a traitor.Daniel Ellsberg has referred to him as "the preeminent hero of the nuclear era".
Vanunu was born in Marrakesh, Morocco, to an Orthodox Jewish family. The family lived in the city's Mellah, or Jewish quarter. His father, Shlomo, ran a grocery store, and his mother, Mazal, was a housewife. Vanunu studied in an Alliance française school, and a Jewish religious elementary school, or cheder. In 1963, following a rise in anti-Semitic sentiment in Morocco, Vanunu's father sold his business, and the family emigrated to Israel. Vanunu was eight years old at the time and had four brothers and sisters. Upon arrival in Israel, the family was sent by the Jewish Agency to Beersheba, which at that time was an impoverished desert town. During their first year in Israel, the family lived in a small wooden hut without electricity. Vanunu's father purchased a small grocery store in the town's market area, and the family moved into an apartment. Vanunu's father devoted his spare time to religious studies. He came to be regarded as a rabbi, and became well-respected in the market. Vanunu was sent to Yeshiva Techonit, a religious elementary school on the outskirts of town, which mixed religious and conventional studies. When he completed 8th grade, his parents sent him to a yeshiva, but after three months, they pulled him out. For high school, Vanunu attended Yeshivat Ohel Shlomo high school, a Bnei Akiva-run school, where he was an honor student.
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