All night Vigil at Dublin's Israeli Embassy April 20 -21

by US Campaign to Free Vanunu Tue Apr 20, 2004 00:37

PRESS RELEASE

April 19, 2004 For immediate release

Contact: Rayna Moss, +972 051 368 236
Israeli Free Vanunu Campaign

For more information, see www.vanunu.co.uk, www.vanunu.com, www.vanunu.org

Vanunu Prison Video Broadcast Irks Supporters

The International Delegation currently in Israel to welcome Mordechai Vanunu after his release is appalled by the news that an interview videotaped last month with Vanunu at Ashkelon Prison will be broadcast on Israeli television this evening. Without his knowledge or consent, this is the first public media communication to Israel and the world from a man who has been silenced for the past 18 years, the first 11 _ of which were in solitary confinement.

At a visit this afternoon with Mordechai Vanunu, American adoptive parents Nick and Mary Eoloff said he told them he did not give his permission for the tape to be used for broadcast, and was not told that was the intent. He was told it was a routine procedure for prisoners nearing release.

The International Campaign to Free Vanunu continues to stand with Mordechai Vanunu in condemnation of nuclear weapons and all weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East and around the world. We continue to look for a free and open debate on the more than 200 Israeli thermonuclear weapons his revelations exposed 18 years ago.

An international delegation, comprised of over 80 individuals from a dozen countries, will join together with Israelis at Ashkelon Prison when Mordechai Vanunu walks out of the prison gate on April 21, 2004.

The delegation will begin a vigil at Ashkelon Prison in anticipation of Vanunu's release at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, April 20, and will be joined by others at 3 p.m. A press conference will be held across the street from the prison at 5 p.m. The delegates who will be speaking at the press conference are marked below with an asterisk. (*) In addition, Gideon Spiro of the Israeli Committee for Mordechai Vanunu and for a Middle East Free of Atomic, Biological and Chemical Weapons and Issam Makhoul, Member of Knesset will speak.

Restrictions to be faced by Mordechai Vanunu on release:
Mordechai Vanunu will face many restrictions on his release from Ashkelon Prison, so many that his new freedom will be seriously compromised.
" It is absolutely disgraceful that these restrictions are being imposed on a man who has finished his 18 year sentence, has no charges to face, and has suffered so much already" said Rayna Moss of the Israeli Free Vanunu Campaign.
These draconian restrictions have been imposed under the emergency regulations passed by the British mandate of 1945.
1. Vanunu will have to register to live in an Israeli city of his choice.
2. He will have to give notice to the authorities if he wishes to travel to another city.
3. He will not be allowed to leave Israel for 6 months. This restriction will be reviewed at the end of 6 months and could be renewed.
4. He will not be allowed to contact foreigners either by phone or in person.
5. It is unclear whether his American adoptive parents, who have been allowed to visit him while in custody, will be allowed to speak to him when free.
6. He will not be allowed to go within 100 meters of any embassy, visit any port of entry, come within 300 meters of any international boundary and he may not be allowed to worship in a church of his choice.

International Noteworthy Delegates

Nick and Mary Eoloff: Mordechai Vanunu's adoptive parents since 1997, from St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
* Mairaed Maguire: Irish Nobel Peace Prize Laureate in 1976 for her work towards building peace in Northern Ireland and founder member of the Peace People. Present in Israel with a delegation from Belfast and Dublin.
Reverend Ed Browning: Retired Bishop Episcopal Church, USA

Felice Cohen-Joppa: Coordinator, U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu. Tucson, Arizona, USA
* Jeremy Corbyn: Labour Party Member of Parliament. Vice chair of House of Commons Human Rights Committee. Active in supporting many civil liberty and international peace causes. Longtime supporter of the Campaign to Free Vanunu. G.B.
Bruce Kent: Past chairman of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, present vice chairman. Member of the International Peace Bureau, tireless peace campaigner. Trustee of Campaign to Free Vanunu. G.B.
* Susannah York: International actor, well known from Hollywood films, theatre, radio and T.V., supporter of human rights causes and Trustee of Campaign to Free Vanunu. G.B.
Art Laffin: Associate coordinator, U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu, Washington, D.C., USA. Member of the Catholic Worker Movement.
Barry Roth: Psychiatrist, peace and anti-nuclear activist, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
* Colin Breed : Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament. Active supporter of peace campaigns and long time supporter of Mordechai Vanunu in the House of Commons. G.B.
Ben Birnberg: Internationally known Civil Liberties and Human Rights Lawyer. Trustee of Campaign to Free Vanunu. G.B.
Ernest Rodker: Coordinator, British Campaign to Free Vanunu
Fredrik S. Heffermehl: lawyer, writer, translator and political organizer, Honorary President of the Norwegian Peace Alliance, Vice President of the International Peace Bureau, Vice President of the International Association of Lawyers against Nuclear Arms, and other organizations, Norway
Pat Arrowsmith: Active in Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons since 1950's. One of the organizers of the first Aldermaston march and involved in many demonstrations against military bases involving arrest and imprisonment. Active in the Campaign to Free Vanunu. G.B.
Ole Kopreitan: executive director, Nei til atomvaapen (No to Nuclear Arms), longtime Vanunu campaigner, Norway.

-end-

Felice Cohen-Joppa
Coordinator
U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu
POB 43384
Tucson, AZ 85733
Phone/Fax 520-323-8697
[email protected]

by Ciaron - Dublin Catholic Worker & Pitstop Ploughshares Tue Apr 20, 2004 00:40

* Feel free to drop into vigil for as long as you like
** Vigil contact number will be 087 918 4552
*** We will be collecting siganutres to deliver to Israeli Embassy demanding the lifting of post-release restrictions on Mordachi Vanunu

by Ploughshares Tue Apr 20, 2004 13:38 pitstopploughshares at hotmail dot com 087918 4552

Their will be an all night vigil outside the Israeli Embassy in Dublin from 7.30 pm Tuesday April 20th. - 11 am Wednesday April 21 st. The vigil will be in solidarity with Martdechai Vanunu due to be released under oppressive restrictions on Wednesday April 21st..

Drop by the vigil to sign the following lette, we will deliver the letter at the conclusion of the vigil.

If you can't make it, consider printing off a copy and mail it to the Ambassador.
Ambassador
Embassy of Israel
122 Pembroke Rd.
Dublin 4
IRELAND

Dear Ambassador,

WE PEOPLE OF IRELAND ASK YOU TO DO TWO THINGS

1. Seriously reflect and examine the issues of your government's manufacture & possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction raised by the nonviolent witess & 18 year imprisonment of Mordechaii Vanunu.

2. Demand your government release Mordechai Vanunu immediately without any restrictions on his liberty or freedom. Your government presently has imposed the following restrictions on Mr. Vanunu on his release from prison on 21/4/04

a. He will not be allowed to leave Israel for 12 months.

b. Vanunu will have to register his residence, and receive permission of the authorities if he wishes to travel to another city.

c. He will be forbidden to contact foreigners either by phone or in person.

d. It remains unclear whether his American adoptive parents, who last visited him at the prison on Monday, will be allowed to communicate at all with him when free.

e. He is forbidden to talk about his work at Dimona with journalists, although he may discuss his kidnapping from Italy.

f. He may be near but is forbidden to enter any foreign embassy, and may not approach any port of entry or international boundary.

The above request has been echoed today by Amnesty International....

Amnesty International today joined the global call for the unconditional release of Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu. In a statement from their London office, the international human rights organization said it "urges the Israeli authorities not to impose any restrictions or conditions on former nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu upon his release on Wednesday after 18 years in jail."
"Mordechai Vanunu should be allowed to exercise his rights to freedom of movement, association and expression in Israel and should be allowed to leave the country if he wishes," said Amnesty International. "His release is long overdue and Israel must not continue to violate his fundamental human rights once he is released from prison."

Their statement continues:
"...In recent months Israeli officials have publicly supported and called for Vanunu to be detained beyond expiry of his sentence, or for his freedom to be restricted upon his release. Available information indicates that the Israeli authorities intend to impose heavy restrictions on Vanunu's freedom upon his release, including banning him from leaving the country, confining him to assigned residence, and denying him the right to be in contact with journalists and foreigners. "Israel is bound by international law not to impose arbitrary restrictions on Mordechai Vanunu, including on his right to travel within the country or abroad, his right to peaceful association with others and his right to express his opinions," said Amnesty International.

Background
Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Israel has ratified and is obliged to uphold, stipulates that:
"everyone lawfully within the territory of a State shall, within that territory, have the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose his residence" and that "everyone shall be free to leave any country, including his own". The rights to freedom of expression and association are guaranteed by Articles 19 and 21 of the same Covenant.

In the spirit of a world based on freedom and peace

Yours sincerely