Subject: Draconian Restrictions of Freedom on Israel's WMD Whistleblower
From: Jei

Joe Stork, acting executive director
of Human Rights Watch's Middle East
and North Africa division

(New York, April 21, 2004) - Israel's planned sweeping restrictions on
nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu after he is released from prison
breach basic principles of due process, Human Rights Watch said today.

Vanunu, a nuclear technician formerly employed at Israel's Dimona weapons
research facility, is scheduled to be released today after serving an
18-year prison term on treason and espionage charges, much of it in solitary
confinement. He had been abducted by Israeli secret service agents in Italy
in September 1986, after the Sunday Times of London published an account of
Israel's nuclear weapons program based on information he provided.

Avraham Poraz, Israel's Minister of Interior, issued an order on April 19
forbidding Vanunu from leaving the country for one year after his release.
Maj.Gen. Yair Naveh, head of the Home Front Command of the Israel Defense
Force, citing the Defense (Emergency) Regulations from the British Mandate
period, ordered Vanunu not to speak with anyone about his employment with
the Dimona program. Vanunu is also prohibited from approaching foreign
embassies or consulates, or conversing with non-Israelis. These restrictions
will be in force for six months and are renewable.

"When Mordechai Vanunu was tried and sentenced 18 years ago, the court made
no provision for these additional punishments," said Joe Stork, acting
executive director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa
division. "Imposing these new restrictions now violates fundamental due
process standards."

Israeli officials have cited national security concerns in imposing the
restrictions, and have withheld some of the evidence used to justify them
from Vanunu's attorneys, who are contesting the restrictions.

Human Rights Watch recognizes that Vanunu may still be subject to secrecy
restrictions that he had agreed to as a condition of his employment at
Dimona. The appropriate remedy, were he to violate those restrictions, would
be further prosecution. But it violates international due process standards
to punish him for offenses not committed and without receiving a trial.

"Security concerns cannot justify restrictions on Vanunu's freedom of
expression and movement that amount to punishment without a trial-or even an
allegation of criminal conduct," Stork said.

The Defense (Emergency) Regulations, issued in 1945 by the British Mandatory
authorities, were subsequently incorporated into Israeli law. They allow
for, among other things, military tribunals for trying civilians without
right of appeal, banning publications, demolishing homes, and imposing
curfews.