Israeli nuclear whistleblower convicted of violating parole terms
Xinhua, January 24, 2017 Adjust font size:
An Israeli court said Monday that the country's nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu was convicted of violating his parole conditions, more than a decade after he spent 18 years in prison.
The Jerusalem Magistrate Court made the decision on Jan. 10, but it was not cleared for publication until Monday. A sentencing hearing was scheduled for March 14.
Vanunu was released in 2004 under a series of restraining orders, including a prohibition on contacting non-Israelis, possessing a mobile phone and leaving Israel.
A spokeswoman for the Israeli Judicial Authority said Vanunu was charged with three counts of violating his release.
He was convicted of meeting two U.S. citizens in a hotel in East Jerusalem in 2013 without permission from Israeli authorities. He might face two months in jail for this count.
He was cleared of two other counts, including one related to giving an interview to Channel 2 TV news in 2015.
Vanunu was jailed in 1986 after disclosing information of the nuclear facility in Israel's Dimona, where he worked as a technician, to the British Sunday Times.
Israeli intelligence agents arrested him in Italy and brought him back to Israel. Endit