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Hearing for appeal of restrictions on Vanunu's freedom postponed
to July 11
Rayna Moss The first hearing on Mordechai Vanunu's appeal against the State-imposed restrictions which leave him a hostage in Israel and severely limit his civil rights, has been postponed until July 11, 2004. The hearing, which will be heard by Supreme Court Judges Barak, Matza and Cheshin, will take place on Sunday, July 11 at 8:00 a.m. at the Jerusalem Supreme Court. Vanunu will be represented by Advocates Oded Feller and Dan Yakir of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI). A separate legal battle that Mordechai Vanunu is waging, his libel suit against the daily newspaper Yediot Ahronot, will resume in September 2004 at the Tel-Aviv District Court. One reason for the delay in the resumption of this proceeding, is the refusal of a convicted forger, whose fabrications against Vanunu were published on the paper's first page in April, to appear before the court on behalf of the newspaper. The court issued a summons against him, compelling him to appear at the next hearing or face contempt charges. Ami Ayalon, former chief of Israel's secret police (Shabak), who is said to be the source of the libelous story that prompted this legal action, is also scheduled to appear at the same hearing. Ayalon reportedly told military correspondents at a closed briefing, that while in prison, Mordechai Vanunu had given information to Hamas prisoners about making bombs. This unsubstantiated story was ignored by literally all of the reporters present, except for Yediot reporter Ron Ben-Yishai. Ben-Yishai was convicted by a disciplinary tribunal of the Israel Press Council for publicizing this story without obtaining any comment from Vanunu or his lawyers.  |