http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1048650.htm
Last Update: Thursday, February 19, 2004. 1:00pm (AEDT)
Israeli nuclear spy set to be 'freed'
Mordechai Vanunu, the whistleblower jailed for 18 years for exposing
Israel's nuclear arsenal, could be placed in administrative detention
following his April release, a cabinet minister said Wednesday.
Gideon Ezra, parliamentary relations minister, said the Jewish state's
secret services could hold Vanunu "to keep him from divulging secrets".
Vanunu, 49, worked as a technician at the Dimona nuclear facility in
southern Israel.
He was sentenced in 1986 after giving details about Israel's secret weapons
program to Britain's Sunday Times.
Israeli agents lured Vanunu from London to Italy, where he was kidnapped and
brought to Israel.
He was tried in secret and found guilty of espionage.
He is due to be released from prison on April 21.
"I visited him myself in his prison cell, where he told me of his intention
to continue to divulge secrets, without expressing the least regret for what
he had done," Mr Ezra told parliamentary deputies.
Israel has firmly adhered to a policy of "nuclear ambiguity", never
confirming or denying it possesses nuclear weapons.
Foreign experts believe the Jewish state holds at least 200 atomic warheads.
Under administrative detention regulations, Israeli authorities can detain a
suspect for renewable periods of six months without charges or trial.
It is a practice frequently used to detain suspected Palestinian militants.
-- AFP
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