Conference, Vigil, Rally Scheduled for September

The U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu this fall will sponsor a three-day event in Washington consisting of its first national conference, an all-day vigil at the Israeli embassy, and an embassy rally protesting the continued incarceration of that country’s anti-nuclear whistle-blower.

The conference will be held September 26 at the Methodist Building at 110 Maryland Ave., NE, across the street from the U.S. Supreme Court. There will be panel discussions and workshops on the nuclear weapons and human rights issues underlying the Vanunu case, followed by supper, entertainment, and an address by a featured speaker.

On the following day a dawn-to-dusk vigil will take place across the street from the embassy. Volunteers will be asked to join the vigil for an hour, the morning, or the whole day - or to visit their U.S. Senators or Congressional Representatives in support of Vanunu’s immediate and unconditional release.

On September 28, capping the three-day event,Vanunu supporters will hold a noon rally at the embassy to mark the 14th anniversary of Vanunu’s kidnapping and forceful return to Israel to face criminal charges for blowing the whistle on his government’s clandestine nuclear weapons program, where he had worked as a technician.

The kidnapping occurred in Italy on September 30, 1986. But the observance is being advanced this year because September 30 coincides with Rosh Hashanah, a Jewish high holiday.

Further details about the three-day event, with registration forms, will be mailed this summer and posted here on the campaign’s web site.