27 Sep 2000
Rayna Moss

A vigil to mark the 14th anniversary of the kidnapping and imprisonment of nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu will take place on Wednesday, October 4, at 17:00. Place: Peres Peace Center, corner of Derech Hashalom and Yigal Alon streets, Tel-Aviv.

This site was chosen to remind the Israeli public and the world, that while former Prime Minister and Defense Minister Shimon Peres, currently Minister of Regional Development, is busy collecting awards abroad and being praised as a peace maker, he is the central figure behind Israel's undisclosed nuclear industry and was the person who gave the order to abduct Vanunu in Rome, drug him and bring him to Israel, where he was tried in camera and given a sentence of 18 years imprisonment.

Mordechai Vanunu, who spent 11.5 years in solitary confinement, has been allowed to socialize with other prisoners in Hashikma prison since 1998. However, since June 2000 he has been arbitrarily returned to solitary confinement by the prison administration, in violation of the law and of the security services' policy. For several months he was also denied visits with his brother, the only person now permitted to see him in prison. Amnesty International and other organizations and individuals concerned about Vanunu's human rights and well being have protested his open-ended punishment by the prison administration.

Join the vigil on October 4 to demand the release of nuclear hostage Mordechai Vanunu and an end to his mistreatment by the prison authorities.

Vigils and protest actions in support of Mordechai Vanunu and nuclear disarmament are being held this week in many places around the world, including Washington D.C., Stockholm, Oslo, Sidney, London.